GP Patient Survey lists best and worst Dudley GP surgeries

Rangeways Road Surgery in Kingswinford was rated the highest in the primary care network areas serving Stourbridge, Wollescote and Lye, Brierley Hill, Kingswinford and Wordsley.

It scored the best overall rating with 92 per cent of patients surveyed in the 2024 GP Patient Survey rating their experience of the practice as good.

Rangeways Road Surgery in Kingswinford (Image: Google Street View)

Lion Health in Lowndes Road, Stourbridge, and Chapel Street Medical Centre in Lye scored the lowest for overall experience with 60 per cent of patients who took part in the annual survey saying they had a good experience at those surgeries.

The survey shines a light on how GP surgeries were viewed by patients between January and March this year.

GP patients were asked for their opinion on issues such as how easy it is to book an appointment or see their preferred GP, the quality of care and service provided, and how easy it is to contact the surgery or secure an out-of-hours appointment.

The surgery topping the rankings for ease of access when it came to contacting the GP practice by phone was Thorns Road Surgery in Quarry Bank where 86 per cent of patients rated it as easy to get through, with The Summerhill Surgery in Kingswinford just behind with 84 per cent.

Lion Health also scored the lowest in this category too, with just 10 per cent of patients rating it as easy to contact the surgery by phone.

Lion Health GP surgery in Stourbridge (Image: Newsquest)

Quincy Rise Surgery at Withymoor, Brierley Hill, was rated highest for patients being able to speak to their preferred healthcare professional – with 69 per cent saying this was always or almost always the case.

At the other end of the scale, just seven per cent of patients surveyed at Lion Health said they always or almost always saw their preferred healthcare worker.

The Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for commissioning NHS GP services in Dudley.

In this ICB area the average percentage of people rating their overall experience of a GP practice as good was 68 per cent, while the national average was 74 per cent.

The average percentage of people who found it easy to contact a GP practice by phone was 44 per cent in this ICB area and 50 per cent nationally. Meanwhile, 37 per cent of people in the local ICB area reported being usually able to see their preferred healthcare professional versus 40 per cent nationally.

To see the full survey results go to https://www.gp-patient.co.uk/

The Black Country Integrated Care Board said it expects GP surgeries to use the feedback from the patient survey to inform any improvements that may be needed.

Bosses said the ICB would review practices which need more support and those which have performed well so that learning can be shared.

Sarb Basi, director of primary care for the Black Country ICB, added: “Hearing from patients is one of the most important indicators of whether patients’ needs are being met by local NHS services.”

Lion Health said it was “disappointed” with some of the findings in the patient survey and a spokesperson said improvements have been made and the surgery now provides “more care, more appointments and more calls/contact with patients than ever before” and they added: “We are working on a number of initiatives to make further improvements.”