First-ever national GP staff survey rates practices highly for ‘compassion’

GP practices scored highest on being ‘compassionate and inclusive’ in the first-ever NHS staff survey in general practice. 

Last year, NHS England extended the annual NHS Staff Survey – which covers all trusts in England – to general practice for the first time. 

Only 21 out of 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) signed up to the voluntary rollout, and NHS England told our sister title Pulse that national results will not be published as they were released to each participating practice and PCN individually. 

Pulse has seen documents revealing that the General Practice Staff Survey (GPSS) received responses from over 18,200 GP practice staff, which represented 16% of the total eligible workforce population in the 21 ICBs. 

Across all metrics, the national aggregate score was higher in general practice than the average across all trusts – however, NHS England emphasised that individual scores ‘cannot be directly compared’ due to differences in methodology and weighting (see also box below). 

The documents also revealed that 34 ICBs have signed up to roll out the 2024 survey in general practice, which is expected to go live this October with results available in spring next year. 

NHS England has said the aim of the GPSS is to provide ‘standardised, comparable, actionable staff experience data’ to general practice for the first time. 

As well as supporting retention, NHSE said this is also a ‘critical step’ towards implementing the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) in primary care. 

The WRES, which is a requirement for all NHS trusts, provides specific data on the experiences of black and minority ethnic (BAME) staff members, with the goal of ensuring equal access and fair treatment.

When sharing the average score data with ICBs, NHS England said: ‘Individual scores cannot be directly compared between the GPSS and NSS, due to differences in years, methodology, weighting, occupational groups etc.

‘Additionally, the GPSS is still voluntary with 21 ICBs offering the chance to participate in 2023. 2023 national GPSS scores therefore act as an indicative baseline.’

The questions posed by the survey are similar to the NHS Staff Survey, however NHSE stressed that it is a ‘bespoke version’ that ‘recognises the complexities within general practice’.

Meanwhile, GP practices have refused to complete this years’ NHS England staff survey as part of ongoing collective action.

During a webinar last month, deputy medical director for primary care Dr Kiren Collison acknowledged that this year ‘some people have declined to fill in the survey as part of collective action’.

Collective action began on 1 August after GP partners voted in favour of taking action in protest against contractual terms and funding.

A version of this article was first published by our sister title Pulse