Revealed: the best - and worst - GP surgeries in Penrith and beyond

The annual GP Patient Survey collects patient feedback on surgeries up and down the country.

The survey asked residents for their opinions on practices, measuring their experiences on a range of topics including the ease of making appointments, waiting times, the quality of care given, practice opening times and out-of-hours services.

The number of surveys completed varies from surgery to surgery, and does not represent every patient who is registered at any one centre.

Patients were asked about their overall experience at each practice, and given options ranging from ‘very good’ to ‘very poor’.

Each practice, ordered by the percentage of patients describing the medical centre as either ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’, is as follows:

• Birbeck Medical Group – 81%

• The Lakes Medical Practice – 85%

• Temple Sowerby Medical Practice – 86%

• Appleby Medical Practice – 95%

• Kirkoswald Surgery – 97%

• Shap Medical practice – 98%

• Glenridding Health Centre – 100%

At the other end of the scale, the percentage of patients describing the medical centre as either ‘fairly poor’ or ‘very poor’ is as follows:

• Shap Medical Practice – 0%

• Glenridding Medical Practice – 0%

• Kirkoswald Surgery – 1%

• Temple Sowerby Medical Practice – 1%

• Appleby Medical Practice – 1%

• Birbeck Medical Group – 4%

• The Lakes Medical Practice – 6%

Most of the GP surgeries in Penrith and the surrounding area are performing better than the overall score for GP surgeries in the local clinical commissioning group, which is North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Across the trust, 83% of patients rated their local GP surgery as either ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’, and 6% rated their surgery as either ‘fairly poor’ or ‘very poor’.

Nationally, 82% of patients rated their local GP surgery as either ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’, and 7% rated their surgery as either ‘fairly poor’ or ‘very poor’.