THE city’s GP surgeries have been ranked from best to worst performing by patients as part of an NHS survey.

The results of the latest GP survey - which asked more than 1,300 patients in Worcester for their views on things such as how easy it is to make appointments over the phone– show that some surgeries are performing better than others in the opinion of the people receiving the care.

Based on overall experience, St Martin’s Gate Surgery was rated the highest with 96 per cent of respondents saying they had a ‘good’ experience.

That was followed in second and third place by Albany House Surgery where 90 per cent of people said they had a good experience and Spring Gardens Group Medical Practice where the figure was 89 per cent.

As many as 88 per cent of respondents to the survey said they had a good experience at Farrier House Surgery and 87 per cent of people said that their experience at Thorneloe Lodge Surgery was a good one. The same goes for patients at Haresfield House Surgery where 85 per cent of respondents said they had a good experience with 79 per cent of patients at Barbourne Medical Centre giving the same response.

Scores were lower at Elbury Moor Medical Centre in Fairfield Close where 68 per cent of those answering the survey said their experience was a good one.

The highest number of patients saying they had a ‘very good’ experience was at St Martin’s Gate Surgery where 69 per cent of respondents awarded the practice top marks.

Worcester’s GP surgeries ranked by patients saying they had a ‘good’ experience (%):

  1. St Martin’s Gate Surgery (96)
  2. Albany House Surgery (90)
  3. Spring Gardens Group Medical Practice (89)
  4. Farrier House Surgery (88)
  5. Thorneloe Lodge Surgery (87)
  6. Haresfield House Surgery (85)
  7. Barbourne Medical Centre (79)
  8. Severn Valley Medical Practice (78)
  9. St John’s House Surgery (72)
  10. Elbury Moor Medical Centre (68)

The annual GP patient surgery, which was carried out by the NHS between January and April in what has been a Covid-dominated year, found that Severn Valley Medical Practice in Warndon had the highest number of respondents saying they had a ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ experience.

The surgery to come out on top in the rankings when it came to booking a GP appointment was again St Martin’s Gate Surgery with 82 per cent of people saying the experience was ‘good’ or better closely followed by 80 per cent of respondents at Haresfield House Surgery answering the same.

At the opposite end of the rankings, nearly half of respondents at Elbury Moor Medical Centre said booking an appointment was not a good experience with 23 per cent answering it was either ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ compared to 20 per cent of respondents at St John’s House Surgery.

On average, almost 89 per cent of respondents to the survey in Worcester said receptionists at the GP surgery they used were helpful.

Due to lockdown brought on by the Covid pandemic, face-to-face GP appointments plummeted and were replaced with telephone and virtual consultations in most cases but GPs were told in May that they must start giving patients the chance to see them in person.

And just last week, city doctor Jason Seewoodhary said restrictions at hospitals throughout the pandemic had put a significant strain on GP services throughout Worcester which was leading to a huge struggle to book appointments.

The number of calls to surgeries are said to have increased significantly in recent months but with coronavirus cases rising and more people mixing due to the relaxing of lockdown rules and GP surgeries are still having to take extra precautions to limit the spread of infection.