Health and Care Experience Survey: results 2019/2020

1. Key Findings

Over 160,000 individuals registered with a GP practice in Scotland responded to the 2019/20 Health and Care Experience Survey. The survey asked about people's experiences during the previous 12 months of accessing and using their GP practice and other local healthcare services; receiving care, support and help with everyday living; and caring responsibilities. The main results from the 2019/20 survey are:

The GP Practice

• Seventy nine per cent of people rated the overall care provided by their GP practice positively, down four percentage points from the last survey.
• Eighty five per cent of people found it easy to contact their GP practice in the way that they want to and seventy seven per cent were happy with their GP practice opening hours.
• Ninety two per cent of people were able to obtain two working day access to their GP practice^[1]; this is a slight decrease from the previous survey. Sixty four per cent of people were allowed to book an appointment at their GP practice three or more working days in advance, down from sixty eight per cent in the previous survey.

Recent Treatment or Advice from the GP Practice

• Around three quarters of people who had contacted their GP practice in the last 12 months received most of their treatment or advice from a doctor.
• People were generally positive about their experience of care. They were most positive about understanding information they were given and being able to ask questions.

Out of Hours Care

• Of the people who received treatment or advice from an NHS service when their GP practice was closed, seventy nine per cent rated the overall care they had experienced positively.

Care, Support and Help with Everyday Living

• Of those who received care, support and help with everyday living, sixty nine per cent rated the overall help, care or support services as either excellent or good.
• Seventy six per cent of those receiving care, support and help with everyday living said they were treated with compassion and understanding.

Experiences of Carers

• The survey indicated that fifteen per cent of people look after or provide regular help or support to others.
• Of those providing care, thirty four per cent say they feel supported to continue care, this was down three percentage points from the previous survey.