Health leader says improvements needed for low performing GPs

SOME of our GP surgeries need to see urgent improvements, warned the borough council’s health executive.

Data from the NHS patient survey revealed that Wokingham has some of the worst ,and best, performing surgeries in the country.

Cllr Charles Margetts, executive member for health and social care, said the variation is concerning.

He is calling on Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to implement an improvement plan to bring those at the bottom back up.

Frances Brown, Healthwatch Reading board member, analysed the data from the national survey.

The data looked at the ability of patients contact someone at the practice on the phone, at overall experience of making an appointment, and at overall experience of the GP practice.

She used surgery “transformations” to compare the borough’s sites with others in the country, and was particularly concerned with those falling into the top and bottom 10% in England.

Using data for 2021, Ms Brown found five surgeries in the bottom 10% of the country. These are Wokingham Medical Centre, Loddon Vale Practice, Twyford Surgery, Woosehill Medical Practice and South Reading and Shinfield Group Medical Practice.

However, three surgeries made it into the top 10% in the country.

These are Finchampstead Surgery, New Wokingham Road Surgery and Wilderness Road Surgery.

Cllr Margetts compared Finchampstead Surgery and Wokingham Medical Centre. The latter has fewer patients per doctor, yet is ranked significantly lower in performance.

“They’re both in a similar situation,” Cllr Margetts said. “It shows there is something specific going on … its time the CCG did something about it.”

He said the council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has invited the CCG to a meeting to discuss what surgeries can learn from each other.

“There are a wide range of factors at play,” he said. “It’s more to do with operational strength, and how well they’re running their practice.”

With surgeries run as different businesses, Cllr Margetts said a universal approach would not necessarily bring more success.

“They tend to bring everyone down to the middle,” he said. “This approach can work, because the top performers prove that. But it needs to be managed and controlled properly.

“If it’s not working, the CCG should get involved, and ask if they need any help with IT, staffing or more money. It’s not clear if any of this is happening.”

Cllr Margetts said councillors from all parties have regular complaints from residents about Wokingham Medical Centre.

“The key complaint raised is how difficult it is to get through and talk to anyone,” he wrote. “However the survey shows that the overall patient experience is poor and is getting worse over time.

“The performance of Loddon Vale Practice, Twyford Surgery and Woosehill Surgery is also poor and declining over time.

“It’s not me they’re letting down, it’s the residents that live there,” he said.

In a letter to the CCG, Cllr Margetts said he is fully aware of the pressure and strain on GP’s at the moment, but is concerned about mixed performance across the borough.

He said the borough council has committed to help GPs with a publicity campaign explaining the 40% increase in demand for services.

As part of this, the council is promoting the best NHS services to use for issues varying in severity.

He praised the “excellent” work of the top-performing surgeries but called on the CCG to implement a plan for those in the bottom 10%.

He wrote: “We have no authority or control over GP’s as they fall under [the CCG’s] remit.

“Please can [the CCG] advise how [it] plans to address this level of performance and help these practices raise their standards?

“Wokingham Borough Council would welcome a dialogue with the CCG on this issue and would be prepared to assist in any way practical and possible. Our sole wish is an improvement in the service offered to our residents’’

A spokesperson for Berkshire West CCG said: “Our GPs have been under huge pressure throughout the pandemic and we are pleased to see many of them continue to perform very well and offer their patients good quality healthcare.

“Despite a 40% increase in demand for GP services, we have been able to carry out a great deal of work to introduce changes, and to further improve access across all practices.”

They said this includes offering more GP appointments and allowing patients to book in-person at the surgery.

The spokesperson said the CCG is also piloting a scheme that allows the hospital’s Emergency Department to book patients into GP or pharmacy appointments.

A Community Pharmacy Consultation Service has been created, offering an alternative to the GP, they said.

And the CCG is exploring the possibility of improving GP telephone systems.

They said the group is also taking part in the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, with the aim of creating multidisciplinary teams to support people with complex, long term conditions and tackle health inequalities.

“We are working very closely with the practices that are under the most pressure, looking at their performance, and how we can support them to provide good levels of service for their patients,” they added.

“We are also encouraging people to make the best use of the range of health care services available to them.”