Health and Care Experience Survey 2021 to 2022: national results

5. Out of Hours Healthcare.

Out of Hours Healthcare^[3]

NHS services contacted when the GP practice was closed

In the last 12 months 15% of people contacted an NHS service when they wanted to see a GP, but the GP practice was closed.

These respondents were asked to think about the last time they tried to get treatment when their GP practice was closed and asked whom they contacted first. The overwhelming majority (64%) contacted NHS 24 (111) first with only 4% using the NHS Inform website first.

31% of respondents received their treatment or advice from a Doctor/General Practitioner with 25% receiving their treatment or advice from a Hospital Doctor or Nurse at A&E or Minor Injuries.

57% of respondents received that treatment or advice over the telephone while 37% travelled to a hospital/location. Only 1% of respondents received treatment or advice using a video call while 4% were seen at home.

Figure 5.3 shows that the majority of those who contacted an OOH service sought treatment or advice for a physical health problem (63%). Only 4% of people had received treatment or advice from an OOH service for a mental health problem.

Experience of Out of Hours Healthcare

Two thirds of people (67%) rated the overall care received from OOH positively.

Figure 5.4 shows how people had rated their care by the service they had used. Ambulance A&E crews had the highest proportion of positive ratings (81%) with mental health nurses receiving the lowest proportion of positive ratings (60%), for the professions known of.

"A&E staff was excellent, the waiting time was too long though."

"It is time doctors see patients in surgery or home visits. Too many patients being sent to outpatient clinic."

"I feel the NHS 24 is a good service but you can wait an incredibly long time to speak to someone and when you do they tell you to contact your GP as does the pharmacist so you end up in this endless loop where you cannot access help."

"I have great confidence in my local pharmacy. All staff are helpful and I find the pharmacist explains things in a way I can understand."

The survey asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with seven statements relating to their experience the last time they used an OOH service. People were generally positive about their experience of an OOH service.

The most positively rated statements were 'I understood the information I was given' and 'I was listened to' (85% and 83% positive respectively), see Figure 5.5. This is consistent with the most positively rated statements asked about the GP practice.

"A&E were so busy they didn't have enough time with each patient, dealing with emergencies and walk ins."

"Hospital care, appointments are excellent across a variety of coordinated consultants."

The statement with the lowest positive rating was 'I was given the opportunity to involve the people that matter to me' (53%). However, it should be noted that this statement also had the largest neutral response ('Neither agree nor disagree') suggesting that people may not have felt that the statement was relevant to them.