New research on GP experiences in Tameside.

Healthwatch Tameside has published their research on GP experiences from the patient perspective.

Healthwatch Tameside received 220 responses to the survey they conducted between October 2023 to February 2024.

The group are the independent consumer champion for health and social care in Tameside, their role is to gather information from local residents about their experiences of health and social care services.

They then share this information with commissioners and providers to influence change.

They asked people: which GP Practice they were registered with, what worked well, what they thought could be improved and for any other comments they had. They also asked the method they used to make appointments, waiting times to get appointments and referrals to other services as well as where they were referred to and what the communication was like.

Healthwatch Tameside found that making it easier/quicker to access appointments was the largest number of comments regarding what could be improved: “Suggestions included increasing capacity and the number of appointments, as well as improving methods of booking.

“When asked about waiting times for appointments, 68% of respondents said they has accessed an appointment within a week, with the largest number within that having an appointment within 3 days. However, there were multiple reports of 2-week, 3-week and more than 3 week wait times. Some reported not being able to arrange an appointment at all.”

Digital exclusion was a concern for respondents for those less able to use online tools.

The next highest number of comments that Healthwatch Tameside found was how well people thought their GP Practice works and how grateful they are to the GPs and staff.

When asked about communication 88% of 129 comments were positive, and 38% of 138 respondents said their GP Practice was working well to the ‘any other comments’ question.

Based on their findings Healthcare Tameside created a set of recommendations these are: review compliance with the Accessible Information Standard across GP services in Tameside, to share information with Healthwatch Tameside about any activities which are planned to improve continuity of care across GP services in Tameside, to share information with Healthwatch Tameside about any activities to improve access to GP service via phone and online services and review the use of Patient participation Groups within Tameside GP services.

You can read the full report at: HW Tameside Experiences of GP Practices in Tameside report (1).pdf