A Litherland GP practice has been ranked the 5th best in Merseyside and most other south Sefton surgeries are performing as well as others across the country in the latest independent patient experience survey.

The GP Patient Survey carried out by Ipsos MORI is sent to over a million people across the UK annually, and the results show how people feel about their GP practice.

It assesses patients’ experience of healthcare services provided by GP surgeries, including their access to practices, making appointments, the quality of care received from doctors and practice nurses, satisfaction with opening hours, in addition to NHS out-of-hours and dental services.

Key local findings in this year’s survey include:

• 87% said that the helpfulness of receptionists at GP surgeries was helpful compared to national average of 87%
• 81% of patients said they were able to get an appointment the last time they tried, and of those, 93% said their appointment was fairly or very convenient compared to national results of 84% and 92% respectively
• 58% said that they didn’t wait too long to be seen at the GP practice, the same as the national result of 58%
• 96% said that they had confidence and trust in the GP they saw compared to an average of 95%

Dr Andrew Mimnagh, chair of NHS South Sefton CCG, said: “It is good to see that we are ranked alongside the national average for all of these indicators with some being above average. We are really proud of what the GP services have achieved despite the well-recognised national challenges that we face, such as the financial difficulties with our funding allocation for GP services being in the bottom 5% of the national average for our population.

“We strive to keep our patients happy and it is important to us that they have a positive experience from booking an appointment through to waiting times and confidence in the GP that they see.

“A huge thank you goes to all of the staff at the individual practices who work extremely hard to keep up these high standards. They are the ones at the forefront speaking and helping on a daily basis to ensure that our patients get the right care.

“A special mention has to go to 15 Sefton Rd GP practice in Litherland who were ranked 5th best GP practice overall in Merseyside. This is fantastic and it is great to see them ranked so highly across each and every category.”

More information on the GP Patient Survey data publications can be found on NHS England's website.