Patients living in South West London were more satisfied with their GP practice than anywhere else in the city – even though their satisfaction score worsened this year, according to a new survey.
The GP Patient Survey, which was carried out by Ipsos for NHS England in February, heard from 18,746 respondents in the NHS South West London Integrated Care Service area on their overall experience with their GP.
Of those living in South West London, 79 per cent said they had an overall good experience with GP services. Meanwhile, 8 per cent reported a poor experience. In comparison, 80 per cent of respondents said they had an overall good experience in the previous year’s survey.
This compared to a satisfaction score of 75 per cent in North West London, 73 per cent in North Central London, 73 per cent in South East London and just 70 per cent in North East. In contrast across England, 75 per cent of the 702,000 respondents had a good experience at their practice, up slightly from 74 per cent in 2024.
Louise Ansari, chief executive at Healthwatch England, said: “Primary care delivers 90 per cent of the interactions people have with the NHS. With public satisfaction in the NHS declining, improvements to how people access care from their GP, pharmacy, dentistry, and other primary care teams is therefore vital.”
She added: “It’s promising that this year’s findings show modest increases in people’s overall experiences of GP, including an increase in the number of people given a choice of time, day or location for their most recent appointment, which we know from previous years’ results directly links to improvements in overall experience. However, our recent research shows there is a gap between the choices people want and the ones they get.”
Nationally, the survey found 70 per cent of respondents said their overall experience of contacting their doctor was good, up from 67 per cent in 2024. In South West London, this stood at 75 per cent – up slightly from 74 per cent a year earlier.
Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said: “Shoring up general practice needs to be at the heart of the Government’s approach to delivering the 10-year health plan. Although improvements are reported in ease of access, over one third of patients still find accessing their general practice difficult, and there are marked differences in experience between those living in the richest and the poorest areas.”
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Royal College of GPs chair, said: “While these figures show things are heading in the right direction, we know that there are still patients who are struggling to access the care they need, despite GPs working to their limits and beyond.”
The survey also asked patients about their experience with NHS dentists and pharmacies. Some 74 per cent of South West London residents said they had an overall good experience with dentists, while 90 per cent reported a good experience with pharmacies. Check our interactive map to see how your area scored.
Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS England’s national director for primary care and community services, said: “The results reflect patients now being able to use the NHS App for more services, better phone systems to easily book an appointment, and the hard work of our general practice teams – but there is still more to do to improve patients’ satisfaction and experience.”
She added: “We will introduce further improvements including training more GPs and increasing the number of dentists, building online advice into the NHS App, establishing neighbourhood health centres in every community, and making it even easier to see your general practice team when you need to instead of having to turn to A&E.”
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