General Practice Across England: Report

A new report from the Institute for Government, partnering with the Nuffield Foundation looks at the variation in general practice performance across England.

A title card with text that reads 'General Practice across England: institute for government'

Looking at patient satisfaction data, the Institute for Government has published an analysis of general practice across England.

Since patient satisfaction was first recorded in 2012 there have been a number of changes to the delivery and nature of general practice, with fewer GP partners but more direct patient care staff such as pharmacists, care co-ordinators and physiotherapists, while the number of practices has continued to fall and patient list size grown.

A key shift is the move to remote appointments, consultations delivered over the phone or by video call; while more appointments were delivered in 2024 than in 2019, a much greater portions of these were delivered remotely or by non-GP staff.

Key Findings:

Patient satisfaction is higher in practices that provide more appointments face-to-face, especially where a larger proportion of patients are aged over 65.
Patients report higher satisfaction in practices with smaller list sizes.
Patient satisfaction is lowest in the most deprived parts of the country and there are fewer GPs per patient in more deprived parts of the country.