It’s a challenging time of year for the healthcare system. Flu cases in hospital have already hit last year’s peak, norovirus cases are rife and the NHS has warned about a “quad-demic” of illnesses over the festive season.
Despite the pressures, it appears that the vast majority of us are already happy with how our local practice operates, according to the latest GP Patient Survey, produced by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England.
Almost 700,000 patients in England completed the 2024 survey, which gathers information on how patients feel about their local GP. It reveals the best and worst surgeries in the North East and beyond. Across the country, the majority of patients described the overall experience as “very good” (37.1%) or “fairly good” (30.2%).
Not everyone is as happy with their local practice though — 9.4% said their overall experience was “fairly poor” and 9.5% described it as “very poor”. The survey was carried out between January 2 and March 25.
Here we reveal the GP practices in the North East which were voted the best by you. Surgeries are ranked by the proportion of patients that said they were “very good”.
5. Rockliffe Court Surgery, Darlington
There were 267 survey forms sent out to patients at Rockliffe Court Surgery, Darlington. The response rate was 48%, with 129 patients rating their overall experience. Of these, 85% said it was very good and 13% said it was fairly good. | Google Maps
6. Roseworth Surgery, Newcastle upon Tyne
There were 251 survey forms sent out to patients at Roseworth Surgery in Newcastle upon Tyne. The response rate was 43%, with 109 patients rating their overall experience. Of these, 84% said it was very good and 14% said it was fairly good. | Google Maps
7. The Bellingham Practice, Hexham
There were 229 survey forms sent out to patients at The Bellingham Practice in Hexham. The response rate was 47%, with 108 patients rating their overall experience. Of these, 82% said it was very good and 9% said it was fairly good. | Google Maps
8. Alston Medical Practice, Alston
There were 300 survey forms sent out to patients at Alston Medical Practice in Alston. The response rate was 37%, with 112 patients rating their overall experience. Of these, 82% said it was very good and 12% said it was fairly good. | Google Maps