Revealed: Redbridge’s best and worst surgeries according to patients

Results from the latest NHS survey have revealed what the best and worst surgeries in Redbrdige are - according to patients.

Glebelands Practice in Glebelands Avenue, South Woodford was rated the best by patients, with 99 per cent of those who took part in the survey rating the service as ‘good’ or better.

Ninenty-nine per cent also said that Glebelands receptionists were helpful, 92 pc said that they had a ‘good’ experience making an appointment, 97 pc said that their GP at Glebelands listens to them, and 94 pc said that they felt their GP treat them with care and concern.

In the overall patient experience chart 95 pc of patients at the Fulwell Avenue Surgery in Ilford and the Southdene Surgery in South Woodford both said that the service was ‘good’.

Glebelands has been rated as the best surgery in Redbridge by patients. Photo: Google Maps (Image: Google Maps)

The worst rated service in Redbridge was the Ilford Medical Centre in Cleveland Road, Ilford where only 34pc of patients rated the service as being ‘good’.

Only 33pc of patients were ‘satisfied’ with the appointment times available at Ilford Medical Centre, and just over half the patients who took part in the survey (56pc) thought that the receptionist was helpful.

Overall patients in Redbridge rank their GPs among the worst in the country.

The survey of 4,251 patients in the Redbridge CCG shows that just 74pc rated their GP surgery as either very good or fairly good.

It means the CCG had the sixth-lowest approval ratings in England for its GPs – with 4pc describing their personal experience as ‘very poor’.

The figures – which come from the 2018 GP Patient Survey, conducted between January and March this year – show that across England 84pc of people thought their GP services were good.

The Recorder spoke to Dr Sean Howlett, Dr Joe Cohen and Dr Sri Aravindham from Glebelands Practice who said that one of the keys to their success was the “continuity” at the srugery.

They have all been working their for over 15 years, and they said that they love their work.

Ilford Medical Centre has been rated as the worst surgery in Redbridge by patients. Photo: Google Maps (Image: Google Maps)

Dr Aravindham said: “We all love what we do.

“And we are very grateful to all our patients.

“We know all of our patients very well.

“We are old fashioned GPs and we have a great team here, including our practice manager Steffie Fisher, and our nurses and recptionists, Michelle Wall and Julie Mason.

“We work very hard, we start at about 7am every morning and we are rarely out before 7pm each day.

“Everyone at the surgery enjoys what they do, we have very happy and smiley receptionists and we are all real experts in what we do, but we are very grateful for the kind support.”

Addressing the national picture, Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “GPs and our teams are performing well, in the best interests of patients, in incredibly difficult circumstances.

“Our workload has escalated in recent years, both in volume and complexity, but the share of the NHS budget our service receives is less than it was a decade ago, and GP numbers are falling.

“But patients are still waiting too long for a GP appointment, and too many are not getting an appointment when they want one.

“As well as being frustrating for patients, and GPs, this is concerning as it means patients might not be getting the treatment they need in the early stages of their condition – and their conditions will potentially become more serious.

“The plain truth is that existing GPs and our teams are working to absolute capacity and we just don’t have enough GPs to offer enough appointments.”

The survey also shows that just 52 pc of people found it easy to get in touch with their GP’s surgery on the phone – five years ago it was 56pc.

But only 48pc said that they knew that they could book appointments with their GP online – and just 21pc had done so.

The data also shows that patients are seeing their GPs less often. In the last three months, 53pc of those surveyed had seen their family doctor, down from 57pc in 2013 – despite the newer figure including appointments with nurses at their practice.

Acting director of primary care for NHS England Dr Nikita Kanani said: “General practice is the foundation of the NHS and this survey shows patients appreciate the fantastic job GPs and the wider primary care work force are doing in times of real pressure, helping more people living with increasingly complex conditions.

“We are already putting record funding into primary care after years of underinvestment, with an additional £2.4 billion every year by 2020 to help drive improvements in care, including widening access with more GPs are in training than ever before – a record 3,157 began their studies last year.

“As we develop a long-term plan for the NHS, we will look to further build on these successes and this critical foundation.”

The survey of patients in England has been redesigned and now includes 16- to 17-year-olds for the first time.