1 in 7 patients reported poor experience with GPs in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes

A health think tank said policy makers and GPs know more must still be done, especially for poorer areas that are "under-funded" and "under-doctored".

The Office for National Statistics' most recent health insight survey carried out in March received responses from 633 people who tried to contact their GP in NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board recently.

Of them, 60% said it was an overall "good" experience – a slight improvement from 58.9% recorded in the first wave of the survey which started at the end of July 2024.

Meanwhile, the proportion of patients reporting an overall "poor" experience fell from 20.5% in the first survey to 15.2% in the most recent one.

The rest said their experience was neither good nor poor.

Across England, 73.6% of patients said their experience with their GP was good, and 10% said it was poor.

It marked an improvement from seven months prior, when 67.4% reported a good experience and 15% a poor experience.

Health think tank the Nuffield Trust said the recent ONS data is "welcome news".

Dr Becks Fisher, director of research and policy and a practising GP, said: "These are from a low baseline though, and policymakers, GPs and their teams will know that more needs to be done.

"This is particularly the case in poorer areas, which are relatively under-funded, under-doctored and where patient experience of general practice tends to be worse."

She added the public has been "deeply unhappy" with GP services for several years.

She said: "Our analysis of the 2024 British Social Attitudes survey showed overall satisfaction with general practice at an all-time low of just 31% – down from 34% the previous year.

"Dissatisfaction with access to general practice and the ease of getting an appointment play a big role in low overall NHS satisfaction.

"Improving people's experience of accessing general practice is a priority for government, who have put money and effort into improving various aspects of access – from the phone systems practices are using, to boosting the number of GPs."

The ONS data also shows 10.3% of the 611 people who successfully contacted their GP a month prior to the recent survey, said it was "difficult" – down from 25.9% in the first study.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "These figures are encouraging and show how our Plan for Change is bringing back the family doctor and delivering improved services for patients."

They added the Government has hired more than 1,500 extra GPs and has already announced an extra £889 million in funding for the sector.

They said: "But we know there is more to do. We will continue cutting red tape so family doctors spend less time filling in forms and more time caring for patients, and we’ve earmarked £100 million to upgrade GP facilities across England - boosting productivity and allowing more appointments to be delivered."