ALL of Chippenham’s Jubilee Field’s GP receptionists must be happy, as the surgery got a 100% score from patients who found them helpful.

Chippenham’s Hathaway Medical Centre came out the worst of the town’s GP surgeries in the latest NHS Patient Survey with an 80% approval rating. But Rowden’s GPs scored well, with 94% above the national average of 85% of patients who describe their overall experience of this GP practice as good. Jubilee Fields also did well with a 96% topping the Chippenham area’s GP surgery approval rating.

Jubilee Fields also scored the highest percentage of patients who find it easy to get through to this GP practice by phone with 98% of them happy, compared to 53% at Hathaway and 73% and Rowden. Only 27% of Hathaway patients usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP when they would like to - compared to the national average of 45%, Rowden’s 89% and Jubilee’s 87%.

IN the Devizes area, the Southbroom and St James surgeries were more or less level pegging, with Market Lavington nudging ahead to lead the area’s ratings.

The Southbroom surgery scored a 92% rating - above the area average of 85% and the national average of 82%. St James got the same score, with the number of patients who describe their overall experience of their GP practice as good, with Market Lavington and Landsdowne topping the area’s list with 95%.

The Landsdowne surgery was also up there with 100% of its patients having confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to during their last general practice appointment.

In more detail, 76% of Southbroom respondents are satisfied with the general practice appointment times available. But Southbroom dropped in comparison to the others with 65% of Southbroom patients finding it easy to get through to this GP practice by phone, compared to 98% at St James, 85% at Landsdowne and 95% at Market Lavington.

Pretty much all patients at all three surgeries felt they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment during their last general practice appointment, with scores of 96 and 97%.

But the percentage of patients who say they have had enough support from local services or organisations in the last 12 months to help manage their long-term condition(s) varied from 79% in Market Lavington to 90 and 92% for Southbroom and St James respectively.

St James came top of the Devizes pile with 72% of patients who usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP when they would like to - way above the national average of 45%, which was the Southbroom score. Landsdowne was on 65% and Market Lavington got 61%.

No data is available for individual practices on what patients were seeking treatment for, but across the CCG 12% had problems with physical mobility, and 18% took five or more medications regularly. 55% of patients had long term physical or mental illness with 19% accounting for back, joint and arthritis complaints.

Link to ranked list of Wiltshire GPs in the survey:

https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/18616650.ratings-list-wiltshire-gps/