Patient satisfaction with GP services has slumped – with problems getting appointments affecting almost half of all patients, according to the latest findings of an annual survey.

GP leaders blamed the pressure on services and shortages of doctors. In the survey 72.4% of patients reported a good overall experience of their practice, a reduction of more than 10 percentage points in one year. The proportion reporting a good experience of making an appointment fell to 56.2%, a reduction from 70.6% in 2021. The ratings for quality of care remained high, despite the decline. Some 83.5% said the healthcare professional treated them with care and concern – a reduction of nearly five percentage points. More than 700,000 people took part in the survey.

Dr Farah Jameel, chair of the British Medical Association’s English GP committee, said: “The fall in patient satisfaction with making an appointment is a stark reflection of the capacity shortfall that general practice is facing. General practice appointment bookings reached record highs over the winter of 2021, but we still lack enough doctors to safely meet demand. It’s only right that patients expect and deserve high-quality, timely care whenever they interact with their GP practice, and we share their frustration when this doesn’t happen. We too feel dissatisfied after years of under-investment, ever increasing workload and a Government who has not been listening to us.”

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Martin Marshall said: “While the complexity and intensity of GP workload is ever-growing, numbers of full-time, fully qualified GPs has fallen by 1,737 from September 2015 to May 2022. Put simply, GPs don’t have the time or resources to deliver the type of care they want to deliver for their patients. Given these pressures, it’s remarkable and a testament to hardworking GP teams that over 90% of patients surveyed felt that their needs were met during their consultation, and 93% continue to have confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw. Working at this intensity is unsustainable and it’s taking its toll on GP teams, who are burning out and feeling forced to evaluate their future commitment to general practice. Sadly, this is likely to get worse.”