Patient Experience survey of GP and local nhs services 2011/12 Volume 1: Technical Report

8 Survey Response

Overview

8.1 The response rate for the survey is the number of forms returned as a percentage of the number of people in the sample. In total, 605,896 surveys were sent to patients and 145,569 were returned completed, giving an overall response rate of 24 per cent. This exceeded the expected overall response rate of 23 per percent, based on response rates to previous surveys of this type.

Overall response rates for NHS Board areas

8.2 The highest response rate for an NHS Board was Orkney (37%) and the lowest response rate was for Greater Glasgow and Clyde (19%). Ten of the 14 NHS Boards met or exceeded the expected response rate for their NHS Board (Table 4). The calculations for the expected response rates are detailed in section 4.8 of this report.

Table 4 Response rate by NHS Board

NHS Board	Total forms sent out	Number of Responses	Response Rate (%)	Expected Response Rate (%)
Ayrshire and Arran	34,687	8,672	25	24
Borders	9,360	3,292	35	35
Dumfries and Galloway	13,392	4,418	33	36
Fife	27,994	7,555	27	30
Forth Valley	28,862	7,657	27	28
Grampian	40,645	11,938	29	28
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	202,905	38,354	19	19
Highland	45,674	14,555	32	29
Lanarkshire	68,969	14,805	21	20
Lothian	87,598	20,782	24	21
Orkney	4,193	1,540	37	37
Shetland	4,192	1,395	33	31
Tayside	32,033	8,976	28	30
Western Isles	5,392	1,630	30	25
Scotland	605,896	145,569	24	23

Response rate (actual and expected) by NHS Board

Response rates for GP Practices

8.3 Patients at smaller practices were more likely to respond than those at larger practices (Table 5).

Table 5 Response rate by practice list size

GP Practice list size	Total forms sent out	Number of responses	Response rate (%)
< 2,500	102,007	27,388	27
2,500 - 4,999	179,495	41,541	23
5,000 - 7,499	148,719	34,917	23
7,500 - 9,999	101,766	24,724	24
10,000+	73,909	16,999	23
Scotland	605,896	145,569	24

Response rate by patient characteristics

8.4 As expected, the response rate was lower for patients living in deprived areas. This was taken into account when the sample sizes were calculated (see Chapter 4 on Sample Design). The response rate ranged from 17 per cent for the patients living in the most deprived areas to 30 per cent for patients living in the least deprived areas (Table 6).

Table 6 Response rate by deprivation quintile⁶

Deprivation	Total forms sent out	Number of responses	Response rate (%)
1 - Most deprived	151,275	25,133	17
2	127,133	28,078	22
3	127,248	34,323	27
4	105,824	30,399	29
5 - Least deprived	92,188	27,191	30
Scotland	605,896	145,569	24

8.5 The response rate ranged from 20 per cent of patients living in large urban areas to 35 per cent of patients living in remote rural areas (Table 7).

Table 7 Response rate by patient urban/rural location

Urban / Rural	Total forms sent out	Number of responses	Response rate (%)
Large Urban Areas	284,067	55,979	20
Other Urban Areas	141,491	34,216	24
Accessible Small Towns	39,669	10,571	27
Remote Small Towns	17,769	5,191	29
Accessible Rural	59,435	18,279	31
Remote Rural	58,967	20,516	35
Scotland	605,896	145,569	24

Response rate by patient urban/rural location

8.6 The response rate increased with age and was highest in the 65-74 year olds (46%). This compared to a response rate of just eight per cent for those aged 17-24 (Table 8).

Table 8 Response rate by age group

Age	Total forms sent out	Number of responses	Response rate (%)
17 - 24	79,308	6,718	8
25 - 34	105,973	11,524	11
35 - 44	105,577	17,748	17
45 - 54	110,065	26,461	24
55 - 64	88,746	33,313	38
65 - 74	64,069	29,430	46
75 and over	52,158	20,375	39
Scotland	605,896	145,569	24

Response rate by patient age group

8.7 The response rate was higher for females (28%) than it was for males (20%) (Table 9).

Table 9 Response rate by gender

Gender	Total forms sent out	Number of responses	Response rate (%)
Male	301,570	61,273	20
Female	304,326	84,296	28
Scotland	605,896	145,569	24

Method of response

8.8 Of the 145,569 respondents, the majority (95%) sent their surveys back in the post. A total of 7,550 completed their survey online, of which 667 completed the survey using a JAWS⁷ reader (Table 10).

Table 10 Method of response

Method of response	Number of questionnaires completed	Questionnaires completed (%)
Post	138,019	95
Online	6,883	5
Online via JAWS	667	<1
Total number of respondents	145,569	100

8.9 Of the patients who were sent a questionnaire, 19,566 (3%) were returned as undeliverable or the address was insufficient. A list of these patients has been sent to PSD for investigation. It is likely that this list will include patients who moved away from their address without notifying their general practice. Therefore, feedback of information on these surveys assists the NHS in identifying and correcting administrative records that may require updating.