PATIENTS have passed judgement on the county’s GP practices rating the best and worst for waiting times, appointments and quality.

A survey of those using surgeries in Oxfordshire revealed The Leys Health centre in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, was ranked the worst with a third of 116 respondents in the area saying they did not have a good experience.

Dr Louise Gardner, speaking on behalf of all the centre which has eight doctors, six nurses including a sister and two healthcare workers, said they were “very disappointed” with their overall score but cited scores of 88 per cent for receptionists and between 78-98 per cent for GP and nurse care. 

She added: “We take all patient feedback seriously and use it to continually improve our services.

“We acknowledge the issues around appointments, which brought our overall score down. We are continuing to try to improve the service we offer. We do understand and regret the frustration caused to our patients.

“This is a time of enormous strain on the NHS. Funding for the GP service has been reduced in recent years and patient demand for GP appointments is rising dramatically.

“This is especially true in areas like Blackbird Leys where there is a greater need.”

At the other end of the table was the Wychwood Surgery, which has four GPs to see nearly 5,900 patients, with 100 per cent saying they had a good overall experience.

Practice manager Vanessa Newman welcomed the survey and put the high satisfaction down to providing walk-in surgeries so patients do not have to make appointments.

She added: “It was a shock to come out quite so high, but very nice.
“We try to be as accessible as possible for our patients, but a lot of practices in Oxfordshire do this - we are not the only one.”

But one GP blasted the survey as “unfairly” singling out practices as bad when they are performing well in tough financial conditions.

Abingdon GP Dr Prit Buttar said judging the county’s doctor surgeries by where they came on the survey was unfair because it does not stipulate what patients’ expectations were.

Dr Buttar, chairman of the Oxfordshire Local Medical Committee, added: “I feel very sorry for the practices near the bottom.

“At a time when we are getting enormous pressure to do far more with far less resources, for practices to be criticised for being near the bottom strikes me as disappointing and not very fair.

“Given the enormous cuts in practice resource it’s still a remarkably good performance.”

The GP Patient Survey asked people about a variety of issues surrounding their surgeries including waiting times, how easy it is to make an appointment; GP and nursing quality; opening times; and overall experience.
Patients were asked to rate their surgery as very good, fairly good, fairly poor, very poor or neither good nor poor.

Locally, a total of 8,890 patients responded to the nationwide survey, some 39 per cent of the 22,903 sent out in the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) region.

Across the county’s 79 GP practices, 85 per cent of patients reported an overall experience of good, compared to only five per cent claiming their experience was poor.

Three quarters of the surgeries, 60 out of 79, were rated above the national average of 85 per cent.

Oxford Mail reader Mary Clarkson posted her GP was not at the top of the list but added: “Its GPs, nurses and health visitors have been superb at dealing with everything our family of six has presented them with over 20 years. 

Fellow reader Ted Green said the initial greeting by receptionists can have a huge impact to a patients’ experience.

He added: “Too many times you hear of people being blanked by reception, but only praise for the doctor once they had got to see one. 

“In this day and age customer service can wear many faces, getting it right is very important, getting it wrong can bring with it dire consequences.”

Here are the list Oxfordshire's practices rated by overall experience, running from top to bottom:

Wychwood Surgery - 100%
Sibford Surgery - 99%
Chalgrove and Watlington Surgeries - 99%
Cropredy Surgery - 98%
27 Beaumont Street - 98%
Nettlebed Surgery - 98%
Morland House Surgery - 98%
Banbury Health Centre - 97%
Cogges Surgery - 97%
South Oxford Health Centre - 97%
Bloxham Surgery - 97%
Mill Stream Surgery - 97%
Chipping Norton Health Centre - 97%
9 King Edward Street - 96%
Grove Medical Centre - 96%
Sonning Common Health Centre - 96%
28 Beaumont Street - 95%
Cowley Road Medical Practice - 95%
Church Street Practice - 95%
Kidlington and Yarnton Medical Group - 94%
Goring and Woodcote Medical Practice - 94%
Horsefair Surgery - 94%
White House Surgery - 94%
Eynsham Medical Group - 94%
Islip Surgery - 94%
The Hart Surgery - 94%
Wood Farm Health Centre - 94%
Hightown Surgery - 94%
Newbury Street Practice - 94%
Bampton Surgery - 93%
Woodlands Surgery - 92%
Gosford Hill Medical Centre - 92%
The Bell Surgery - 92%
Berinsfield Health Centre - 92%
Summertown Health Centre - 92%
The Rycote Practice - 91%
Manor Surgery - 91%
Deer Park Medical Centre - 90%
Long Furlong Medical Centre - 90%
Deddington Health Centre - 90%
The Abingdon Surgery - 90%
Clifton Hampden Surgery - 90%
Jericho Health Centre (Kearley/Chivers) - 90%
Bury Knowle Health Centre - 90%
Langford Medical Practice - 89%
Broadshires Health Centre - 89%
Victoria House Surgery - 89%
White Horse Medical Practice - 89%
Wallingford Medical Practice - 89%
Bartlemas Surgery - 89%
Malthouse Surgery - 89%
Oak Tree Health Centre - 88%
Fern Hill Practice - 88%
Burford Surgery - 88%
Bicester Health Centre - 87%
Botley Medical Centre - 87%
St Bartholemew's Medical Centre - 87%
Nuffield Health Centre - 85%
Hollow Way Medical Centre - 85%
Windrush Medical Practice - 85%
Jericho Health Centre (Bogdanor) - 84%
Woodstock Surgery - 84%
Exeter Surgery - 84%
19 Beaumont Street Surgery - 84%
Banbury Road Medical Centre - 83%
St Clement's Surgery - 82%
Montgomery House Surgery - 82%
Woodlands Medical Centre - 81%
Marcham Road Family Health Centre - 81%
Donnington Medical Partnership - 81%
Marston Medical Centre - 79%
Windrush Surgery - 79%
Didcot Health Centre Practice - 78%
The Charlbury Medical Centre - 76%
Temple Cowley Health Centre - 76%
Kennington Health Centre - 74%
West Bar Surgery - 73%
North Bicester Surgery - 69%
The Leys Health Centre - 67%