The worst rated GP surgeries by patients have commented their low patient satisfaction. These are the top three worst rated GP surgeries – three surgeries that ranked at the bottom in this year’s national GP patient satisfaction survey.

It is sent out to tens of thousands of patients in Buckinghamshire and England each year to help health authorities understand NHS patients’ experiences.  

Whitehill Surgery in Aylesbury received the lowest overall patient satisfaction score, as only 28 percent of patients had a good experience – compared to 72 percent nationally.

READ MORE: GP patients satisfaction survey results breakdown

Only 5 percent of their patients felt they could easily get through on the phone, in contrast to 53 percent rate for England as a whole.

Second worst patient experience was at High Wycombe’s Kingswood Surgery, where 35 percent of patients thought their experience was good.

Only 6 percent of patients said they got through easily on the phone.

A spokesperson for Whitehill Surgery and Kingswood Surgery from Bucks, Oxford and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board said: “The positive findings from this survey are a tribute to the fantastic work by everyone in the surgery to ensure our patients receive the best possible care.

“Like primary care services across the country, we are facing challenges around some areas like GP recruitment, but we have introduced a number of initiatives to provide our local community with accessible and high-quality healthcare.

“These include: A ‘Queue-buster’ call back option so patients save time and money when phoning.

“Recruiting a variety of new health professionals within the surgery, to allow more people to be seen, for example a paramedic, advanced nurse, physician associate and more

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“Introducing two monthly prescriptions on some medicines, to reduce the cost of medication for our patients.”

“We are also proud of our very strong and close working relationship with the Patient Access Group who are committed, like we are, to providing a first class service to our patients.”

Third lowest overall satisfaction according to patients was at The Mandeville Practice in Aylesbury.

Of patients, only 36 percent of patients said they had a good experience (72 percent in England), and 17 percent said they got easily through on the phone.

The practice manager of The Mandeville Practice Ratish Pillai commented: “If you look at the GP survey, if you look at the split up in detail, what most patients have complained about the surgery is access, one of the key issues is telephone access and need to get through to the surgery.

“The access has been a huge issue, we know that, and we are aware of that, the CQC [Care Quality Commission] is aware of that. And the thing is, we have taken steps to rectify it already.”

The practice has terminated a telephone contract, and they are working “very closely” with the CQC to have a new, advanced telephone system, Mr Pillai said.

He added: “We have recruited a lot of receptionists, and we have a patient participation group, because patients are important.

“But we are aware of the issue, and we’re trying our best to fix this access issue.

“We hope this will be sorted in the next month or two.

“All I can say is we’re very sorry, we are aware of the issue and we’re working on it.”