Nearly three-quarters (73%) of adults who tried to contact their GP practice in the past month had a good experience, data from the Office for National Statistics has shown.
The update on adults’ self-reported experiences of NHS services also showed some key differences from a year ago around online access.
It found more than 96% of adults who had attempted to contact their GP practice in the last 28 days were successful with 75.3% making contact on the same day, down from 77.5% a year ago.
And of those who successfully made contact, almost half (47.2%) made contact online, up from 38.5% a year ago, the ONS reported.
A year ago, 45% made successful contact by telephone which has now shifted to 37.7% as more patients make use of online services.
The Health Insight survey data also showed more than 80% of those contacting their practice via the NHS app found it easy and across all methods, three-quarters found it easy.
But it also showed that only 37.8% of adults knew ‘there and then’ how their request would be dealt with compared with 41.9% a year ago.
In all 89.5% said the waiting time between their request and call-back or appointment was reasonable.
The ONS said the decrease reflected the increased use of online contact methods.
It compares with 28.6% of adults on an NHS hospital waiting list stating they were satisfied with the communication about their wait, down from 33.7% a year ago.
Half of those asked what would improve their experience of NHS waiting lists said more regular updates.
It comes shortly after the British Attitudes Survey found public satisfaction with GP services has risen over the past year and is at the highest level since 2021.
Patient satisfaction measured in the NHS GP Patient Survey has been rising steadily following a six-year low in reported in 2023.
A version of this story first appeared on our sister title Pulse.
