How easy is it to get the help you need from your GP surgery? That's the question Healthwatch Westmorland and Furness, Cumberland and Lancashire want local people to answer through a major survey running until March 2027.
The project will gather experiences from patients across Cumbria and Lancashire to understand what is working well in GP services, where people are experiencing barriers, and what improvements are needed. Findings will be shared regularly with GP providers and NHS commissioners throughout the project, with a final report bringing together the experiences of local people.
The survey looks at every stage of contact with a GP practice, including booking appointments, obtaining prescriptions, receiving test results, chasing referrals, accessing information, and overall experiences of contacting surgeries. It also asks people whether they were offered choices about the type, location and timing of appointments.
Why are we doing this work?
Access to GP services remains one of the most common issues people raise with Healthwatch.
Recent national research from Healthwatch England found that while most people were satisfied with their most recent contact with a GP practice, choice and convenience remain among the weakest aspects of the patient experience. Only 62% of people gave a positive rating for how convenient the time, type or format of their appointment was, compared with 72% for ease of contact and 75% for overall helpfulness of the practice.
The research also found that people who were offered meaningful choices were significantly more likely to be satisfied with their overall experience. For example, 92% of patients who were given a choice about when their appointment took place reported being satisfied, compared with 76% of people who were offered none of the choices measured.
Healthwatch England found that:
- Only 49% of patients were offered a choice about when their appointment would take place.
- Only 23% were offered a choice between a face-to-face or remote appointment.
- Nearly one-third (32%) were offered none of these choices at all.
- Older people, women, disabled people and those with health-related barriers were more likely to experience a lack of choice.
These findings suggest that access is about more than simply getting an appointment. It is also about whether the appointment offered is suitable, accessible and workable for the individual.
What are we hoping to learn?
The survey will help Healthwatch understand the real experiences of people using GP services across urban, rural and isolated communities.
We want to know:
- How easy people find it to contact their GP practice.
- Whether they can get appointments when they need them.
- Whether they are offered choices about appointment type, format, time and location.
- How well GP practices support people requesting prescriptions, test results and referral updates.
- Whether communication is clear and easy to understand.
- How experiences differ for people with additional needs, including carers, people with long-term conditions, neurodivergent people and those living in rural communities.
Have your say
The survey is open until 31st March 2027 and is available to anyone who has contacted a GP practice in Cumbria or Lancashire.
Take part here: https://bit.ly/4yZaLH8
Every response will help build a clearer picture of how GP services are working for local people and where improvements are needed to ensure patients can access the right care, at the right time, in the right way for them.
Your experience could help shape the future of GP services across our communities.