Where does YOUR GP rank on the list of best and worst surgeries in the country?

BRITS can find out where their GP ranks on the list of best and worst surgeries in the country.

Using a simple tool you are able to see what other patients have said about your local practice.

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It’s handy to work out how easy it is to get appointments and if others feel their issues have been dealt with.

The league table has been created using findings from the GP Patient Survey, which is an ongoing poll.

It sees more than a million people give their thoughts on their GP surgery.

The survey ranks trust in doctors, the reception staff and how many appointments are available.

Using all the answers from Brits Slaidburn Health Centre in Clitheroe, Lancashire, came out as the number one GP surgery in the UK.

Also in the top five are Egton Surgery in Whitby, North Yorkshire, Old Parsonage Surgery in Goudhurst, Kent, Batheaston Medical Centre in Bath, Cartmel Surgery in Cumbria, and Caldbeck Surgery in Wigton, Cumbria.

The tool is very simple to use – you just type in your postcode and find your local practice or the name of your GP surgery.

You can then look at how easy it is to get through to your practice on the phone or if a choice of appointments were offered.

Patient experience is also logged, with people ranking how helpful receptionists are and how they rated their treatment.

It comes after new figures showed doctors are still only seeing half of their patients in person.

Face-to-face meetings have not returned for many people in England despite lockdown rules ending in August.

In July, just 57 per cent — or 14.6million — of GP appointments across England were face-to-face in a surgery. Another 10million, or 39 per cent, were on the phone, with 900,000 being home visits and video calls.

Before the pandemic about eight out of ten appointments were in person at a clinic and critics warn patients will suffer if they are not brought back.

Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary, said: “It can mean missed diagnosis of serious illness.

“It’s urgent that ministers put forward a NHS rescue plan with the resources and staff to ensure everyone who wants a face-to-face GP appointment can get one.”

We also revealed how you could get your health issue treated much faster by visiting a pharmacy or could even ask to see a physicians’s associate in your GP surgery.

Dr Sara Kayat said: “Often while a patient might think they need to see a GP, they can be seen and helped by a nurse practitioner or physician’s associate – and often on the same day.

“So before you automatically ask for a GP appointment, which might mean you have to wait a week or two, start with your local pharmacist and go from there.”