Leeds West CCG GP report
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Healthwatch Leeds works to gather and feedback the views and experiences of people who use health and care services in the city, particularly those who are not always heard. In April 2015 Healthwatch Leeds were approached by NHS Leeds West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to work with them to evaluate the impact of the extended opening hours that some of their GP surgeries were piloting. Concerns about access to GPs and getting appointments was an issue raised with Healthwatch Leeds.
This project enabled Healthwatch Leeds to work in partnership with the CCG to evaluate the extended opening hours, while also allowing Healthwatch Leeds to gather feedback about people’s experiences of accessing their GPs.
Healthwatch Leeds staff and volunteers carried out surveys in 22 surgeries in the Leeds West area and spoke to over 400 patients. The key aim of the surveys was to identify if the extended opening hours being piloted in these surgeries had an impact on patient access to their GP surgery. The focus was specifically on ease of getting an appointment when one was needed and to identify any overall improvements in patient experiences.
The key findings indicated while there were variations between patient experiences from surgery to surgery,: the key messages were: just over half of the people Healthwatch Leeds spoke to felt there had been an improvement in making an appointment. The full impact of the extended opening hours was not completely clear, as just under half of the people we spoke to either felt it had not changed anything or they had not had the need to make an appointment so could not comment. There were mixed levels of awareness among patients about the extended opening hours. There was a very positive response to the extended opening hours once people were made aware of these. A few concerns were expressed from patients who had to travel to a different surgery for weekend appointments. There were a lot of comments made about problems when phoning surgeries. The issue of attitude of receptionists was mentioned by some people that we spoke to. In some of the surgeries concerns were raised about the difficulties getting routine appointments. There were overall positive views about the ‘walk-in’ ‘sit and wait’ services from the small number of people who had used them.