Why is this survey taking place?
The GP Patient Survey has been designed to give patients the opportunity to feed back about their experiences of their GP practice. The survey asks about your experiences of your local GP practice and other local NHS services, and includes questions about your general health. The survey includes questions about a range of issues, such as how easy or difficult it is to make an appointment at your practice, satisfaction with opening hours, the quality of care received from your GP and practice nurses, amongst other things.
Replies to the survey will help GP practices understand where they can improve. This survey is an opportunity for patients to have their say about how well their practice is doing at providing these services to patients.
Who is this actually from?
Ipsos MORI, an independent research agency, administers the survey on behalf of NHS England.
What is NHS England?
NHS England leads the National Health Service (NHS) in England. It is an arm's length body of the Department of Health with the aim of improving health outcomes for people in England. It is responsible for the commissioning of health care services in England, including the contracts for GPs, pharmacists, and dentists. NHS England has commissioned Ipsos MORI to run the GP Patient Survey. You can find out more about NHS England on the NHS website.
When is the survey sent out?
The survey is sent out annually in January.
This is the eleventh year that the survey has been carried out in England. Between March 2016 and July 2011 the survey took place twice a year, having previously been conducted on a quarterly basis (April 2009-March 2011) and annually (January 2007-March 2009).
Why is this survey happening again?
The GP Patient Survey continues to provide a means for patients to feed back their experience of the care and services they receive from their GP practice. We run the GP Patient Survey yearly in order to track change over time and monitor the quality of services. The survey will help the NHS to improve GP practices and other local NHS services so they better meet your needs.
Even if you completed a questionnaire last year it is important to hear about your more recent experiences.
Who designed the questionnaire?
The questionnaire was originally developed with the University of Exeter and University of Cambridge. This year the questionnaire has been thoroughly reviewed and redeveloped by Ipsos MORI and NHS England, who are committed to ensuring that the questionnaire reflects the way in which primary care services are delivered. Primary care services in England are currently undergoing significant change, as outlined in the GP Forward View.
Due to these changes, it is crucial that the GPPS questions are reviewed to ensure we ask about the right things in the right way. As a result, ahead of this year's survey the questionnaire has been thoroughly reviewed, involving consultation with a large number of stakeholders specialising in primary care as well as the public. This has led to significant revisions to the questionnaire, all of which has been tested with patients using cognitive interviews to ensure that it continues to reflect experience, and is also easy to read and understand. More information about the questionnaire redevelopment process will be available in a separate report due to be published early in 2018.
About Ipsos MORI?
Market and Opinion Research International Limited is a specialist research agency, commonly known as Ipsos MORI. Ipsos UK and MORI, who you may have heard of separately, merged in October 2005 to form the second largest research organisation in the UK.
Ipsos MORI is part of the Ipsos worldwide group of companies and a member of the Market Research Society's. As such we abide by the Market Research Society Code of Conduct and associated regulations and guidelines.
For more information about Ipsos MORI please go to www.ipsos-mori.com
