ALMOST two thirds of patients of a GP practice serving Emersons Green are waiting longer than a week for appointments.
Around 650,000 people nationwide took part in this year’s NHS GP Patient Survey, sharing their experiences of booking and attending appointments.
They included 96 patients of Emersons Green Medical Centre, and 100 from Three Shires Medical Practice, which serves Wick and Pucklechurch.
Emersons Green Medical Centre has been shut since October 2024 after its heating and hot water system failed. Patients have been seen instead at Leap Valley in Downend, which is run by the same doctors’ group, Green Valleys Health.
When making appointments, 12% of Emersons Green patients were offered a same-day appointment, up from 4% last year; the national average is 27%.
Another 1% were offered one the next day (down from 3%). The proportion waiting a week or more was 64% – down from 74% last year but double the national average of 32%.
Asked how they felt about the wait, 63% of respondents said it was too long. Other patients either waited less than a week, or couldn’t remember how long they waited.
At Three Shires, 28% were seen on the same day (up from 26%), 7% on the next day (down from 8%) and 23% waited a week or longer (down from 27%). Asked if they waited the right amount of time, 85% said yes.
The survey found just 13% of Emersons Green patients found it easy to make contact with the practice by phone – although this was up from 3% last year – and 77% found it difficult. Nationally, 57% of patients found it easy to get through by phone.
Only 29% of respondents found it easy to use the practice website to get in touch (up from 17%), and 19% found it easy to use the NHS app (up from 12%), compared with national averages of 58% and 54% respectively.
By contrast, 86% of Three Shires patients found it easy to get through by phone (down from 93%), 80% online (up from 68%) and 71% using the app (up from 57%).
Once patients saw a health professional, 87% of Emersons Green patients had confidence in them, as did 98% at Three Shires. The national average is 93%.
Some 45% of Emersons Green patients said their overall experience of the practice was good, up from 32% last year but below the national average of 77%.
At Three Shires, 95% of patients said their experience was good (up from 88%).
NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, which is in charge of funding surgeries, said overall patient experience was “very good” across the region.
Deputy chief medical officer Dr Geeta Iyer said: “Surgery teams deserve huge recognition for their dedication to patient care and their focus on making it easier for people to get help quickly, including same-day care where needed.
“However, we know that not all patients report a positive experience.
“The high levels of need are putting sustained pressure on services, and practices are balancing the need to offer quick access to appointments with maintaining continuity of care, particularly for people with long‑term conditions.”