A GROUP of GP practices in Workington have said new results from a national GP survey are ‘disappointing’ – after figures show that only 47 per cent of patients are satisfied with their overall treatment.

James Street Group Practice in Workington - which includes Beechwood Group Practice, James Street Group Practice, Orchard House Surgery, Oxford Street Surgery and Solway Health Services - merged back in 2021 after a number of the practices were ‘very close to closing’.

The GP Patient Survey is an independent survey run by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England. The survey is sent out to over two million people across the UK. The results show how people feel about their GP practice.

A recent GP Practice survey found that only 9 per cent of people found it easy to get through to the practice on the phone, only 4 per cent of patients felt they often get to see or speak to their preferred GP, and only 24 per cent of patients were said to have been happy with appointment times.

The survey also showed that fewer than half of patients at the surgery (47 per cent) had overall satisfaction with the service provided by James Street Group Practice.

However, some positives were shown, with 88.15 per cent of patients at their last appointment being confident in the healthcare professional they saw.

The practice has said they are ‘disappointed’ with the results, after trying hard for the last three years to improve services in Workington, and have encouraged patients to join a Patient Participation Group to improve services.

A spokesman for James Street Group Practice said: “We are aware of the patient survey results that have been published recently and whilst we acknowledge that the results are disappointing, we have been working hard over the last three years to improve services in Workington.

"From a position where some of the five practices in Workington were very close to closing, due to workforce pressures, we now operate as one merged practice for the benefit of patients across the town.

“We currently provide face-to-face patient appointments on three sites, concentrating and making best use of our clinical resources, so that multi-disciplinary teams can work closely together, supporting patients and each other.

"We are addressing access and patient flow concerns in a number of ways and have recently appointed a number of Patient Contact Advisors who will provide care navigation to ensure that patients see the most appropriate clinician or service.

"Since April we have also strengthened our patient recalls programme to ensure that patients who need regular reviews and tests are called in and seen in a timely manner. Feedback from this service change has been very positive.

“We continue to work with our Patient Participation Group to gain patient input into service development and improvements.

"We are very keen that patients help us, to help them and this group is an ideal forum for people to learn more about primary care in Workington and contribute to its ongoing development.

"If patients would like to know more or join the group, please contact the practice.”