Frequently asked questions

Please note the survey has now closed.

Why is this survey happening?

The GP Patient Survey is designed to give patients the opportunity to feed back about their experiences of their GP practice and other local NHS services.

The survey asks about your experiences of your local GP practice and other local NHS services and includes questions about your general health. It includes questions about a range of topics, such as how easy or difficult it is to contact your practice, the quality of care received from healthcare professionals, and experience of NHS services when your GP practice is closed. The survey also includes questions about experiences of NHS dental and pharmacy services.

The answers we get help the NHS to improve local health services for people like you and your family. It is important that we hear about your experiences even if you haven’t visited your GP practice in a long time, or if you have filled in a questionnaire before.

Who is this actually from?

Ipsos, an independent research agency, runs the survey for 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 and Social Care. It supports local integrated care systems (ICS), made up of public services that provide health and care – NHS organisations, primary care professionals, local councils, social care providers and the community, voluntary and social enterprise sector – to improve the health of the population, improve the quality of care, tackle inequalities and deliver care more efficiently. NHS England has asked Ipsos 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 every year in January.

This is the twentieth year that the survey has been carried out in England. Between July 2011 and March 2016, the survey happened twice a year, before that, it was sent out on a quarterly basis (April 2009-March 2011) and before that, every year (January 2007-March 2009).

Why is this survey happening again?

The GP Patient Survey allows patients to feed back their experience of the care and services they receive from their GP practice. We run the GP Patient Survey every year 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 took part in the survey last year it is important for us 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 but is regularly reviewed to ensure it remains up to date. All changes are tested with patients using cognitive interviews to ensure that the questionnaire continues to reflect experience and is also easy to read and understand.

Significant changes were made to the 2024 questionnaire to reflect how primary care services are delivered and how patients experience them. Changes are taking place in primary care, including plans to expand the workforce, making it easier for patients to get the help they need and expanding the role of pharmacy services. Some of the key activities are summarised on the NHS England website.

What protected characteristics and demographic information does the GP Patient Survey collect?

The GP Patient Survey collects voluntary self-reported information covering seven of the nine protected characteristics:

• • Age
• • Disability
• • Gender reassignment
• • Race/ethnicity
• • Religion
• • Sex
• • Sexual orientation

In addition, it collects information on the following:

• • Long-term condition or conditions
• • Working status
• • Caring responsibilities
• • Parent or legal guardian status
• • Smoking and vaping habits
• • Gender identity

All definitions of protected characteristics are taken from Equality Act 2010 Protected characteristics

Age

Definition of protected characteristic: a person belonging to a particular age (32-year-olds) or range of ages (for example, 18- to 30-year-olds).

The GP Patient Survey collects information on the protected characteristic of age using age bands.

Disability

Definition of protected characteristic: A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental disability which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

During the re-development of the 2018 GP Patient Survey, following engagement, the questions covering long-term conditions and disability were changed to closely reflect the Equality Act 2010 definition of disability.

There are two questions on long-term conditions or illnesses; a general question on long-term conditions ('Do you have any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more?'), and a follow up question providing further information about the types of conditions or illnesses ('Which of the following long-term conditions or illnesses do you have?').

Based upon the Government Statistical Service (GSS) standard: respondents who state they have a long-term condition are asked if there is any effect on their day-to-day activities of their long-term condition or conditions ('Do any of these conditions or illnesses reduce your ability to carry out day-to-day activities?') and those who respond ‘Yes’ are defined for the purpose of the survey as self reporting disability.

The GP Patient Survey collects information on the protected characteristic of disability in the manner described above.

Gender reassignment

Definition of protected characteristic: “Where a person undergoes, or proposes to undergo, a process for the purpose of reassigning their sex.”

The survey was designed to use a proxy measure for gender reassignment based on the responses to the following questions:

Which of the following best describes you?
- Female
- Male
- Non-binary
- Prefer to self-describe
- I would prefer not to say

Is your gender identity the same as the sex you were registered at birth?
- Yes
- No
- I would prefer not to say

The GP Patient Survey collects information on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment in the manner described above. For example, a response to the first question of “female” and a response of “no” to the second question, could suggest that the individual self-reports that they are a transgender woman and has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment. Both questions were based upon research, stakeholder engagement and data analysis. Noting that direct information on gender reassignment as defined in the Equality Act 2010 is not collected.

In the published reports, we do not derive gender reassignment using these questions and we report answers to the two questions separately (although it is possible to derive gender reassignment in the manner described above via the GP Patient Survey Analysis Tool, where a user can build their own crosstabulations of the data).

Whilst not a protected characteristic, information about gender identity is collected to meet NHS England’s duty with regards to reducing inequalities (13G).

Following the April 2025 UK Supreme Court judgement on the meaning of sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team are set to provide new standardised survey questions on sex in (Summer 2026) and gender identity (in Spring 2027). These will be recommended for use in Official Statistics, where the statistical producers have identified a need for collection of sex and gender identity.

The next annual GP Patient Survey (expected to be published July 2027) will use the standardised question on sex as the replacement for the first question above, and the survey after that (July 2028) will also include a replacement for the second question.

Race

Definition of protected characteristic: race includes someone’s colour, nationality, ethnicity or national origins. A racial group can be made up of two or more distinct racial groups, for example Black Britons, British Asians, British Sikhs, British Jews, Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers.

The GP Patient Survey uses the current GSS ethnicity harmonised standard to collect information on the protected characteristic of race with some slight changes. The GP Patient Survey question does not include free text ‘other’ responses and includes one additional code of ‘Roma’.

Religion or belief

Definition of protected characteristic: religion refers to any religion, including a lack of religion. Belief refers to any religious or philosophical belief and includes a lack of belief.

The GP Patient Survey uses the current GSS religion harmonised standard to collect information on the protected characteristic religion.

Neither the harmonised standard nor the survey seek to measure belief.

Sex

Definition of protected characteristic: “A man or a woman.”

The survey was designed to use a proxy measure for sex based on the responses to the following questions:

Which of the following best describes you?
- Female
- Male
- Non-binary
- Prefer to self-describe
- I would prefer not to say

Is your gender identity the same as the sex you were registered at birth?
- Yes
- No
- I would prefer not to say

The GP Patient Survey collects information on the protected characteristic of sex in the manner described above. For example, a response of “Male” to the first question and a response of “Yes” for the second, could suggest a self-reported sex of “Male”. We cannot infer sex data for those who select the options “Non-binary”, “Prefer to self-describe” or “Prefer not to say” to the first question, or for those that do not respond to either or both questions. Both questions were based upon research, stakeholder engagement and data analysis.

In the published reports, we do not derive sex using these questions and we report answers to the two questions separately (although it is possible to derive sex in the manner described above via the GP Patient Survey Analysis Tool, where a user can build their own crosstabulations of the data).

Following the April 2025 UK Supreme Court judgement on the meaning of sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team are set to provide new standardised survey questions on sex in Summer 2026. They are also working to produce a new standard for collecting data on gender identity (due Spring 2027). These questions will be robustly tested to ensure question wording and associated guidance are easily understood and correctly interpreted. They will be recommended for use in Official Statistics, where the statistical producers have identified a need for collection of data on sex and gender identity.

The next annual GP Patient Survey (expected to be published July 2027) will use the GSS standardised question on sex as the replacement for the first question above, and the survey after that (July 2028) will also include a replacement for the second question.

Sexual Orientation

Definition of protected characteristic: Whether a person's sexual orientation is towards their own sex, the opposite sex or to both sexes.

The GP Patient Survey uses the GSS harmonised standard to collect information on the protected characteristic of sexual orientation.

Do you collect the protected characteristics marriage/civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity?

We do not currently collect these protected characteristics.

How does the GP Patient Survey relate to the Office for National Statistics' Health Insight Survey?

The GP Patient Survey is an annual survey of patients randomly selected from all GP practices in England, with approximately 650,000 respondents. It includes questions largely about primary care, but also dentistry and pharmacy. Data for the 2026 survey was collected by online and postal surveys from 2 January to 13 April 2026.

The Health Insight Survey is a 4-weekly survey with a sample of patients drawn primarily from the ONS’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey. It has approximately 80,000 respondents and includes questions about primary care, dentistry, pharmacy and waiting for hospital appointments. The Health Insight Survey started in July 2024 and only collects data by online survey.

The surveys ask patients about their experiences across different time periods. The Health Insight Survey focuses on those who have attempted to contact or have successfully contacted their GP practice, had an appointment with a dentist or used a pharmacy service, in the last 28 days. The GP Patient Survey mostly asks about experiences in the last 12 months and includes questions about the last contact (including for those who were not able to get in touch) as well as views on GP practice services in general.

Both the GP Patient Survey and the Health Insight Survey publish data at national and ICB level and include associated measures of statistical uncertainty. Due to the larger scale of the GP Patient Survey, it also allows for publication at PCN and GP practice level.

The GP Patient Survey and the Health Insight Survey are different surveys with a similar purpose. Together, they support the NHS in using patient feedback to improve health services. Significant differences in sample size, question wording and routing, statistical methodologies, and the time-period patients are asked about means direct comparison between Health Insight Survey and GP Patient Survey questions is not possible. Further information about the Health Insight Survey can be found here.

What is Ipsos?

Ipsos is a registered and independent survey organisation that strictly adheres to the Market Research Society's ethical code of conduct. 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.

For more information about Ipsos please go to https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk