The majority of patients (71%) had a good experience booking an appointment, according to the latest GP Patient Survey, produced by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England.
This is up from 65% in the 2020 survey.
The issue of whether GPs are offering enough face-to-face appointments as Covid-19 restrictions ease remains hotly debated.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has now unveiled a £250m package for GPs in England to improve access to their services - but only if they increase the number of in-person consultations.
GP groups have responded angrily, accusing ministers of failing to grasp the scale of the staffing crisis affecting surgeries.
The patient survey contacted 2.4 million people from January to April of this year to gather information on how patients feel about their local GP service, and around a third of them responded.
They also shed light on people’s experiences of booking an appointment locally.
Here we reveal the GP practices in Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group area which were voted the hardest to make an appointment at.
Surgeries are ranked by the proportion of patients who said their experience of booking an appointment was ‘very poor’.
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1. Railway Medical Group
There were 341 survey forms sent out to patients at Railway Medical Group in Blyth. The response rate was 40.2%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 11.5% said it was very poor and 8.3% said it was fairly poor. Photo: Google
2. Brockwell
There were 308 survey forms sent out to patients at Brockwell Medical Group in Cramlington. The response rate was 34.1%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 10.7% said it was very poor and 7.4% said it was fairly poor. Photo: Google
3. Seaton Park
There were 295 survey forms sent out to patients at Seaton Park Medical Group in Ashington. The response rate was 40.7%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 10.6% said it was very poor and 9.0% said it was fairly poor. Photo: Google
4. Well Close
There were 285 survey forms sent out to patients at Well Close Medical Group in Berwick. The response rate was 46%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 9.8% said it was very poor and 18.1% said it was fairly poor. Photo: Google