A recent survey into how satisfied patients are with their GP surgeries has produced mixed results for practices in the St Albans district.

Figures published online from the National GP Patient survey carried out on behalf of NHS England have revealed some of the 14 medical centres in the district have fallen well short of their Care Commissioning Group (CCG) average for patient satisfaction in several areas.

Participants of the survey were asked 23 questions regarding their satisfaction with their experiences at their local centres.

The Lodge Surgery, St Albans, was only above the national average for three of the questions in the survey.

The questionnaire found 66% of respondents for the surgery on Normandy Road said they were able to see or speak to their preferred GP - compared with 82% nationally - while 54% found they had to wait longer than 15 minutes after their appointment time to be seen (65% nationally).

Thirty five per cent of those surveyed said they got to see and speak to their usual GP (59% nationally).

But Jenny Simmons, practice manager for the surgery, said: “At the time of the survey, we were piloting a new telephone triage service and there was a mixed response to this new way of working.

“We listened to our patients’ concerns and have since improved access to help people get appointments and advice in a much easier way through offering pre-bookable, same-day and telephone consultations.

“However, we are delighted to see that our patients did have high confidence levels in their clinical care here.”

Colney Medical Centre in London Colney scored poorly in some categories with 56% saying they would recommend the surgery to someone new in the area compared with 78% nationally and 60% describing their experience in making an appointment as good (73% UK).

At the other end of the table, Grange Street Surgery in St Albans bettered the national average in all 23 of the areas surveyed and The Village Surgery, Harpenden, out-scored the national average in 21 of the 23 questions on the survey.

Dr Nicolas Small, chair of the district’s umbrella group, the Herts Valleys CCG, said, “We are proud that our member practices have achieved such high ratings from their patients. Good primary care provided by GPs and their teams is critical to delivering Your Care, Your Future, West Hertfordshire’s strategy for health and social care services in the future.”

To see the full breakdown of results for your surgery and the chance to compare your local centre with practices in the area online, go to https://gp-patient.co.uk/