GP access in North West London: perspectives from patients in Brent and Westminster

Healthwatch Brent and Healthwatch Westminster undertook research to understand people's views to proposed changes to access to same-day GP appointments via the introduction of same-day access hubs.  They undertook a variety of different means of engagement, reaching 228 people.

Face-to-face appointments were overwhelmingly the most popular, among patients of all ages and demographics. However, many patients were also happy to have a telephone appointment. Video calls were considerably less popular among all participants in the survey. 

During the focus groups, some residents told us that their GP practices were now offering a small number of evening and weekend appointments to help people who struggled to attend during work hours. This was seen as a positive development.

The majority of people – 53% - currently book their appointments via telephone. However, a significant proportion – 41% - choose to go to the practice receptionist and book their appointment in person. When asked how they felt about the current systems for booking appointments, there was an even split between positive, negative and neutral comments. While appointment booking is working well for some people, there are a number of issues that need to be addressed to ensure equality of access. These included: 

• Difficulty using online booking systems
•  Long waiting times on the telephone
• No appointments being available
• Language barriers
• Accessibility concerns
• Online systems not working as expected
• Lack of options for booking appointments in advance

The report also looks at:

• Travel to appointments
• Views on the service currently being received from GPs
• Accessing services when same-day care isn't available
• Views on proposed changes to same-day access

The report contains recommendations on triage, travel, access to appointments, appointment booking systems and access to interpreting and translation services.