What do patients think about access to local primary care services?

Overview 

In February, the North West London Integrated Care System (ICS) introduced its ambitious plan to launch ‘same day hubs’ which aim to address the challenge of accessing same day primary care appointments. However, the proposal was met with concerns raised by GPs and residents which you can read more about in this article. 

Following the proposed changes, we launched a project to gather patients’ experiences and preferences when it comes to using GP services. 

How did we carry out this project? 

Our aim was to gather insight from a diverse range of people – including individuals that regularly use GP services and those facing health inequalities – through a survey, online and in-person community engagement and focus groups with Age UK Westminster and Brent Carers’ Forum. 

In total, 228 people gave their input. This consisted of 139 people who responded to the survey, 47 people at our online discussion and 42 people at our three in-person focus groups. The majority of respondents came from Westminster, with a smaller but significant number coming from Brent.  

To ensure that the information collected would be relevant to ongoing ICS discussions about changes to primary care, we shared our draft questions with local community sector partners and the NWL ICS engagement manager to receive comments and feedback prior to the survey’s launch. 

What did we find? 

Overall, we found that the majority of respondents were happy with the current service being provided by their local GP, with 75.5% of participants stating that their GP took their needs and preferences into account at least some of the time. 

Although some participants felt that the current appointment booking system is flexible, others find it difficult to use PATCHS – an online consultation service -, particularly elderly patients who are digitally excluded. Further challenges include having to wait long times on the telephone, the lack of options to book in advance and facing language barriers which makes it difficult to communicate with the receptionist. 

Several people stated that they would be happy to use same day hubs for their own care. However, all residents agreed that significantly more engagement is needed before any changes are made, triage needs to be performed by a qualified GP and evidence demonstrating the efficacy of any proposals must be published before they are implemented. The report delves further into these findings.  

Our recommendations 

Our recommendations address the feedback shared by the 228 participants during focus groups and engagement activities. We emphasise on the need to improve the accessibility of GP practice appointment booking systems by offering flexible options such as the choice of booking online, telephone and face-to-face appointments. 

It is also vital to engage with residents through patient consultations before implementing any significant changes to the way that care is delivered, ensure that triage is always carried out by a clinical staff and have clear and accessible information that is available about how to access these services, online and in paper copies. You can read more about our recommendations in the report. 

What’s next? 

This report has been shared with the North West London Integrated Care Board to help inform ongoing conversations about how primary care should be developed across our area. 

We will continue to participate in conversations with service providers and advocate for a consultation to be carried out with patients before any significant changes are made.