GP extended access survey

Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham, Healthwatch City of London, Healthwatch Hackney, Healthwatch Havering, Healthwatch Newham Healthwatch Redbridge, Healthwatch Tower Hamlets and Healthwatch Waltham Forest undertook a survey about people’s experiences of GP extended hours.  37,957 people took part.

Most patients in North East London live within 15 minutes of their GP. People from ethnic minority backgrounds, especially those of Black ethnicities, are slightly more likely than average to live further away from their GP.

Most patients (64%) would want to travel less than 30 minutes to get a GP appointment; while slightly over half said they would prefer to travel less than two miles, travel time and factors such as parking and public transport links are more important than geographical distance.

Provision of face to face appointments is important for local people; with 67% preferring face-to-face appointments to remote ones. When it comes to having remote appointments, slightly more people preferred telephone calls to video calls. People aged 25 to 36 were more likely to prefer video calls.

Nearly half of respondents specifically needed in-person appointments within their local area; while the other half were more flexible; either in terms of willingness to travel or to have remote appointments.

Evening appointments were more popular than weekend or morning ones. Urgent same-day appointments were the most important service for out-of-hours access, followed by routine booked GP appointments.

While most patients would prefer to access all services of a GP surgeries as needed out of hours, GP availability should be prioritised over other services and professionals. A majority of patients prioritised seeing a GP quickly over seeing a specific GP; although consistency may be more important for older and disabled people. 

Slightly more people prefer booking appointments by telephone, but a large minority prefer booking them online, particularly those aged 25 to 36.