Highland patients give positive feedback on their GP Practice experiences

13th October 2022

The results from the latest Scottish Health and Care Experience (HACE) Survey from Public Health Scotland show large percentages of positive feedback from people in the NHS Highland board area about their experiences at their GP Practices.
The survey was sent to a random sample of the public and covered a number of areas in health and care experience, including treatment and advice from GP Practices, COVID-19 and Out of Hours healthcare.

Out of the 13,078 responses, 77% gave a positive rating to the overall care provided by a GP practice.

When asked about the last time they needed to urgently see or speak to a doctor or nurse from their GP practice, 85% of those surveyed gave positive feedback on the length of time they had to wait. Additionally, 70% said their practice allowed them to make an appointment with a doctor 3 or more working days in advance.

There was a 73% positive feedback rating for getting to speak to a Doctor at a GP Practice, 82% for getting to speak to a Nurse, and 84% for Pharmacist at a GP practice.

During their appointments, 89% of those surveyed felt they were listened to, and 87% felt they were treated with compassion and understanding. 70% of people said they were able to ask about the risks and benefits of their prescribed treatments.

89% of people said it was easy to contact their GP Practice in a way that they wanted.

For Out of Hours healthcare, 70% of the public gave positive feedback for the overall care experienced during Out of Hours services.

Jill Mitchell, Head of Primary Care at NHS Highland, said: "After a challenging time for GPs and GP Practices, having to adapt during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is great news for NHS Highland to see such positive feedback from the public about their recent experiences at their GP Practices."

Dr Al Miles, a GP at Speyside Medical Group and Chair of NHS Highland GP Subcommittee, added: "It's fantastic to see Highland GP practices scoring well in this survey; our practices are scoring significantly better than the Scottish average. Highland's strong performance is down to the hard work of GPs and their teams, who throughout the pandemic maintained a high level of service to patients.

“GP teams had to adopt changed ways of working during the pandemic to keep patients and staff safe. There has also been a rise in demand for GP services over the past year or so, with most practices reporting being at least 20% busier than pre-pandemic. As a consequence of all this, GP teams are working at an unsustainable pace, and will have to continue to innovate and change how care is delivered in order to overcome these challenges.

“Given all this, I would like to congratulate Highland GPs and their teams on such excellent results."