Patient Experience survey of GP and local nhs services 2011/12 Volume 1: National Results

12 comparisons with rest of UK

Summary

12.1 Recent surveys of GP services in the rest of the UK show that these patients report similar experiences to Scottish patients. Approximately 90 per cent of Scottish, English, Welsh and Northern Irish patients answered positively about the care provided by their GP practice.

Comparisons within the UK

12.2 GP patient experience surveys were carried out in England¹¹, Northern Ireland¹² and Wales¹³ in 2011.

12.3 England started biannual surveys in 2011; the most recent of these was released on 15 Dec 2011. Data period covered was July-September 2011.

12.4 Surveys in Northern Ireland and Wales were both annual surveys carried out in January / February 2011 and released in June 2011. The Northern Irish survey was a postal survey, whereas the Welsh survey was handed out to patients visiting the surgery and only included a few questions on access and demographics.

12.5 This section compares the results of the Patient Experience Survey of GP and other local NHS services in Scotland with these surveys where possible.

Overall rating of care provided by GP surgery

12.6 The Scottish survey asked patients how they rated the overall care provided by their GP surgery, while the Northern Irish and Welsh surveys asked patients how satisfied they were with the care provided by their surgery. England reviewed this question from previous surveys and asked patients to rate their overall experience of their GP surgery. Although the question was slightly different, Scotland and England show very similar results.

12.7 In Scotland 89 per cent of patients rated the overall care provided by their GP surgery as good or excellent. In England 88 per cent of patients rated the overall experience of their GP surgery as very good or fairly good. In Northern Ireland and Wales 94 and 92 per cent respectively said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the care they received at their surgery
(Table 16).

Table 16: UK comparisons on care received at surgery

Response	Scottish patients %	English patients %	Northern Irish patients %	Welsh patients %
Scotland - excellent or good England - very good or fairly good Northern Ireland and Wales - very satisfied or fairly satisfied	89	88	94	92
Scotland - fair England - neither good nor poor Northern Ireland and Wales - neither satisfied nor dissatisfied satisfied	9	8	4	5
Scotland - poor or very poor England - fairly poor or very poor Northern Ireland and Wales - fairly dissatisfied or very dissatisfied	2	4	1	3

Notes:

1. Totals may not add due to rounding

Comparisons of statements on doctors between Scotland, England and Northern Ireland

12.8 Patients surveyed in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland were given some statements about their doctor. In Scotland patients answered how much they agreed with each statement, while in England and Northern Ireland patients were asked to rate how good the doctor was at each one. Two of the questions are comparable (Table 17).

12.9 Northern Ireland had the highest percentage of patients (93 per cent) who agreed that the doctor had given them enough time. In Scotland more patients agreed that they had enough time with the doctor (90 per cent) than in England (88 per cent).

12.10 Scotland had the highest percentage of patients (95 per cent) who agreed that the doctor had listened to them. Northern Ireland had a similar percentage of patients (93 per cent) who agreed that the doctor had listened to them, while England had the lowest percentage (90 per cent).

Table 17: Comparison between doctors in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland

Statement	Scotland: Strongly agree or agree %	England: Very good or good %	Northern Ireland: Very good or good %
Scotland - I have enough time with the doctor England/Northern Ireland - Giving you enough time	90	88	93
Scotland - The doctor listens to me England/Northern Ireland - Listening to you	95	90	93

Note: Results for England have been reweighted to exclude those answering "doesn't apply".

12.11 These results are fairly similar to the previous Scottish and English surveys, the most important increase being in the percentage of Scottish patients reporting having enough time with their GP. This figure increased from 87 per cent in the last survey to 90 per cent this year.

Comparisons of statements on nurses between Scotland, England and Northern Ireland

12.12 Patients surveyed in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland were given some statements about their nurse. In Scotland patients answered how much they agreed with each statement while in England and Northern Ireland patients were asked to rate how good the nurse was at each one. Two of the questions are comparable.

12.13 In Scotland more patients agreed that they had enough time with the nurse and that the nurse had listened to them, than in England or Northern Ireland.

Table 18: Comparison between nurses in Scotland and England

Statement	Scotland: Strongly agree or agree	England1: Very good or good	Northern Ireland2: Very good or good
Scotland - I have enough time with the nurse England/Northern Ireland - Giving you enough time	96	93	88
Scotland - The nurse listens to me England/Northern Ireland - Listening to you	96	92	82

Notes:

1. Results for England have been reweighted to exclude those answering "doesn't apply".

2. Results for Northern Ireland have been reweighted to exclude those answering "doesn't apply".

12.14 These results are fairly similar to the previous Scottish, English and Northern Irish surveys, with the biggest increase being in the percentage of English patients reporting that the nurse listened to them. This figure increased from 90 per cent in the previous survey to 92 per cent this year.