Over 200 local people share feedback on GP appointments with Healthwatch Islington

We spoke to 212 residents about their experiences of accessing a GP. Just over two-thirds of the people we spoke to said that they were able to get a GP appointment when they needed one. However, over half found the experience of booking an appointment difficult. Many struggled to get through by phone.

Conversations with reception staff could be stressful. This was especially the case when patients felt that they had to convince staff of their need to see the GP but language barriers left them unable to properly explain themselves. Although interpreting is provided for GP appointments it is less clear whether interpreting is made available to support these initial conversations with reception staff.

What would make booking an appointment easier?

Improvements that residents suggested included:

• less time spent waiting on the phone
• having more appointments available
• greater flexibility in when it's possible to call, not just early in the morning when, for example, children need help to get ready for school
• being able to go to the practice and book an appointment in person rather than having to call or use e-consult (or other online booking systems)
• greater availability of interpreting and advocacy services.

Feedback on the experience of the appointment itself was much more positive.

"I have a great experience. The GP gives me a good space to explain my health condition.”

Qualities people associated with a good experience included kindness, helpfulness, a good and ongoing relationship with the GP, interpreting support, being given enough time, and feeling listened to.  People said it was also important that communication was clear, and that they were referred to other services where appropriate.

However, conversations with doctors and other healthcare staff could feel more pressured because people had found it so difficult to get an appointment in the first place.

“It takes so long to get an appointment for me that sometimes it's almost insulting to be dismissed when I finally am seen and also told my issues are not a big enough deal given the effort it took.”

And only being able to discuss one issue during an appointment was harder to accept when appointments were hard to come by and waiting times were long. Many people also told us that it was difficult to get face-to-face appointments and that they much preferred them to phone consultations, which were 'not useful'.

Healthwatch chief executive Emma Whitby said,

"We're really pleased to have heard so much feedback about GP appointments. Phone waiting times for booking can already be very long. No one should be asked to call back the next day and go through that process again just because no appointments were left by the time they got through. We understand that changes are planned so this doesn't happen anymore so that's good news. We've also recommended that the availability of evening and weekend appointments be more consistently promoted on GP websites and via recorded messaging on GP phone systems. Many residents don't realise that these out-of-hours services are an option."