You may have seen that on 24 November, NHS Digital will publish General Practice Access
Data (GPAD) for all practices in England on a monthly basis.
This will cover, for example, the total number of appointments at a GP, how the patient
was consulted (e.g., telephone or in person); and who consulted with the patients (e.g., GP
or other healthcare professional).
It has been acknowledged that GPAD is an experimental statistics publication, which means
the statistics are in the testing phase and are not yet fully developed
Dr Jeremy Imms, Associate Director for Primary Care at NHS Somerset says: “We know just
how hard our GP practices in Somerset have been working in recent years responding to
the pressures of Covid-19 at a time when there has a huge increase in demand for their
services. “It’s been disappointing for a number of our GPs to see that there are inaccuracies
in the data published today.
“This includes data showing a number of practices are seeing very few patients face-to-face, when in fact they are performing well above average. We understand this has been
caused by a problem with computer systems. We would like to reassure patients and staff
in affected practices that we are working hard to make sure this data is updated to reflect
the true picture.
“We have a wide range of staff in primary care at our 63 GPs in Somerset, ranging from
mental health nurses and paramedics to health connectors, physiotherapists, practice
nurses, care navigator, as well as GPs, who all help our patients access the care that they
need.”
“We are pleased to see 2022 GP Patient survey looking at data from July 2021 – July 2022
recognised the quality of care our GPs provide in Somerset showing:
·95% of patients in Somerset say they have confidence and trust in healthcare staff at their
GP (compared to 93% nationally)
·93% said they had their needs met (compare to 91% nationally)
Visit NHS Somerset for more information around primary care in Somerset