How GP Surgeries Are Rated Across England - Best & Worst rated

Posted on: 21 Jun 2022 - 13 mins read

There has been a lot of discussion both on social media and in the press about how GPs are performing, particularly after the very challenging times the healthcare sector in particular experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which day-to-day services were immensely impacted.

Of course, patient experiences will differ, and we all have unique expectations of what sort of service our local NHS medical centres should be providing us. However, we wanted to see if there was any correlation between how the general public rate their GP surgery, and how official bodies – the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – rate the services that are being provided to patients.

We also wanted to see if there were any area-specific trends that indicate a ‘postcode lottery’ when it comes to the provision of local healthcare.

To find out, we looked at the latest CQC inspection reports and Google reviews of over 850 different GP practices in 21 major UK towns and cities. This is what we found.

Call our team today0808 239 6043

Request a Callback

We're rated‘Excellent’

Overall, there is a disconnect between patient reviews and official ratings

Nearly all GP surgeries that we analysed in England (96%) have been rated either ‘Good’ (91%) or ‘Outstanding (5%) by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

However, online reviews left by patients on Google are telling us a different story with the average score coming out at just 2.81 out of five – which may be considered only ‘satisfactory’ or ‘OK’.

According to the CQC figures, just 2% of the general practices we looked into were deemed to ‘Require Improvement’ during their last inspection, and fewer still – just 1% - received an overall ‘Inadequate’ service report rating.

In comparison, five times as many (15%) had a poor online patient review score of 2/5 or less, and just 11% of the practices had an average Google review score of 4/5 (or higher).

Essentially, the CQC has determined that nine in ten GP practices are performing well, but the public reviews indicate that that nine in ten GP practices (89%) are not offering a service of a standard that patients would consider to be particularly good.

Overall CQC Report Rating		%
Inadequate	7	1%
Requires improvement	21	2%
Good	785	91%
Outstanding	47	5%

Total Google Reviews	Average Rating	Total number of GP surgeries analysed (CQC and Google Reviews)
39532	2.81	860

Call our team today0808 239 6043

Request a Callback

The figures do vary by location

If we drill down into the data more, there is a little bit of consistency between the Google review and CQC figures in some places - but not all.

For example, in the last CQC inspections of surgeries in Exeter, 35% earned an overall ‘Outstanding’ level – which was the highest of all the locations we looked into and was in line with patient reviews which were a higher-than-average 3.52/5 too. Exeter also doesn’t have a single practice with an overall CQC status below ‘Good’ at this time.

Patient reports suggest there is particular room for improvement in Peterborough, where GPs based there have received an average Google review rating of just 2.4/5 – which was the lowest of all the 21 towns and cities analysed.

No GPs in Peterborough were rated ‘Inadequate’ by the CQC though – when last inspected, two practices (11%) were considered to require some improvement overall, while three (16%) had been awarded an ‘Outstanding’ rating.

Joining Peterborough at the bottom of the table for online patient reviews was Birmingham (2.59/5), which also has the most GPs that were rated as ‘Inadequate’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (in the areas we looked at) – and a relatively high 6% were deemed to need some improvement.

There are also four surgeries here featured in our ‘worst 20’ according to average Google Reviews figures – you can see this list further down this article.

Hull had a low patient review score, but no GPs were reported to be offering a service below expected levels when they were last officially inspected by the CQC.

The figures do vary by location

If we drill down into the data more, there is a little bit of consistency between the Google review and CQC figures in some places - but not all.

There are also four surgeries here featured in our ‘worst 20’ according to average Google Reviews figures – you can see this list further down this article.

Hull had a low patient review score, but no GPs were reported to be offering a service below expected levels when they were last officially inspected by the CQC.

There are some trends in the ‘worst-rated’ list

While our research was only focused around 21 towns and cities in England (so this list isn’t reflective of the worst-rated across the whole of the UK) it is interesting to see some trends in places that appear several times.

For example, Leicester features six times on this list, Birmingham is featured four times, and there are two Manchester surgeries are on the list.

Despite receiving the lowest overall patient review rating on Google, no specific Peterborough GPs made the worst rated list, however.

Twenty of the Worst-Rated GP Surgeries in the UK, according to Google Reviews

Surgery Name	Third Line Address	Postcode	Number of Google Reviews	Average Google Reviews Rating (out of 5)
1	LAURIE PIKE HEALTH CENTRE	BIRMINGHAM	B6 6BB	245	1.3
2	HERON GP PRACTICE	LEICESTER	LE5 3GH	44	1.3
3	DUKE MEDICAL CENTRE	SHEFFIELD	S2 2TD	50	1.3
4	RAYDOCS NEWTOWN	BIRMINGHAM	B19 2ET	127	1.4
5	CONWAY MEDICAL CENTRE	LEEDS	LS8 5DE	24	1.4
6	KINGSWAY SURGERY	LEICESTER	LE3 2JN	110	1.4
7	PARKER DRIVE SURGERY	LEICESTER	LE4 0JF	81	1.4
8	COSSINGTON PARK SURGERY	LEICESTER	LE4 6AW	26	1.4
9	BOUSFIELD SURGERY - DR SHAH	LIVERPOOL	L4 4PP	14	1.4
10	STANLEY MEDICAL CENTRE	LIVERPOOL	L5 2QA	31	1.4
11	BILBOROUGH MEDICAL CENTRE	NOTTINGHAM	NG8 4PN	102	1.4
12	MAYFLOWER MEDICAL GROUP	PLYMOUTH	PL5 1PL	74	1.4
13	PAK HEALTH CENTRE	BIRMINGHAM	B8 1JA	45	1.5
14	BELLEVUE MEDICAL CENTRE	BIRMINGHAM	B5 7LX	163	1.5
15	MODALITY PARTNERSHIP (HULL)	HULL	HU5 2NT	24	1.5
16	THURMASTON HEALTH CENTRE	LEICESTER	LE4 8EA	81	1.5
17	THE WILLOWS MEDICAL CENTRE	LEICESTER	LE5 4LJ	100	1.5
18	BIGHAM ROAD MEDICAL CENTRE	LIVERPOOL	L6 6DW	10	1.5
19	DICKENSON ROAD MEDICAL CENTRE	MANCHESTER	M13 0WQ	70	1.5
20	SEVEN BROOKS MEDICAL CTR.	MANCHESTER	M46 9DE	40	1.5

Please note, we did not include any practices with fewer than 10 Google Reviews in this list.

If we compare this against our list of the surgeries that the CQC rated as being ‘inadequate’ overall – which was just 7 of the 860 we looked in – we can see a couple of familiar practices such the Stanley Medical Centre in Liverpool and the Mayflower Medical Centre in Plymouth.

Both of these were inspected fairly recently (2021), potentially due to reports from patients that they were dissatisfied with the service they received. Since their inspections, these practices may have made several improvements.

Call our team today0808 239 6043

Request a Callback

GP Surgeries Rated Inadequate (Overall) in their Last CQC Inspections


Surgery Name	City / Town	Average Google Reviews Rating (out of 5)	Last CQC Inspection Date
STANLEY MEDICAL CENTRE	LIVERPOOL	1.4	16/12/2021
MAYFLOWER MEDICAL GROUP	PLYMOUTH	1.4	06/12/2021
SCHOOL HOUSE SURGERY (NOW CALLED ALLIED MEDICAL PRACTICE)	BRIGHTON	1.7	05/05/2019
LONDON STREET SURGERY	READING	2.1	14/04/2022
HALCYON MEDICAL	BIRMINGHAM	2.5	05/04/2019
AR-RAZI MEDICAL CENTRE	LEICESTER	2.7	08/02/2022
GREAT BARR PRACTICE	BIRMINGHAM	3.7	22/03/2022

It’s a similar story with the top-rated surgeries too

We created a list for the top-rated GP surgeries on Google too, and it was the Astley General Practice in Manchester that took first place, despite the city’s local medical providers getting an overall low average score on Google reviews.

Birmingham was also featured four times - but again scored low on average overall with patients on Google - while Cambridge took three spots in the top 20, which is more in line with its high online review average.

Twenty of the Best-Rated GP Surgeries in the UK, according to Google Reviews

	Surgery Name	City	Postcode	Number of Google Reviews	Average Google Reviews Rating (out of 5)
1	ASTLEY GENERAL PRACTICE	MANCHESTER	M29 7BY	27	5
2	THE BOAT HOUSE SURGERY	READING	RG8 7DP	14	4.8
3	STONECROFT MEDICAL CENTRE	SHEFFIELD	S12 2LJ	61	4.7
4	STONEGATE MEDICAL CLINIC	YORK	YO1 8AW	27	4.7
5	GARRETTS GREEN LANE SURGERY	BIRMINGHAM	B26 2SB	10	4.6
6	COTMORE SURGERY	BIRMINGHAM	B44 8TU	16	4.6
7	OVER SURGERY	CAMBRIDGE	CB24 5NZ	51	4.6
8	OAKFIELDS HEALTH GROUP	NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE	NE17 7SB	21	4.6
9	BAMPTON SURGERY	OXFORD	OX18 2LJ	55	4.6
10	CHEW MEDICAL PRACTICE	BRISTOL	BS40 8UE	19	4.5
11	HALL GREEN HEALTH	BIRMINGHAM	B28 8BG	809	4.5
12	WILLINGHAM MEDICAL PRACTICE	CAMBRIDGE	CB24 5LB	21	4.5
13	BURWELL SURGERY	CAMBRIDGE	CB25 0AE	16	4.5
14	BARNFIELD HILL SURGERY	EXETER	EX1 1SR	14	4.5
15	WOODSTOCK SURGERY	OXFORD	OX20 1UB	13	4.5
16	WELLINGTON ROAD SURGERY	BRISTOL	BS37 5UY	21	4.4
17	HOLLYWOOD MEDICAL CENTRE	BIRMINGHAM	B47 5DP	13	4.4
18	VAUXHALL HEALTH CENTRE	LIVERPOOL	L5 8XR	26	4.4
19	WEST HOE SURGERY	PLYMOUTH	PL1 3BS	27	4.4
20	GREYSTONES MEDICAL CENTRE	SHEFFIELD	S11 7BJ	11	4.4

Please note, we did not include any practices with fewer than 10 Google Reviews in this list.

When we compared the list of top top-rated surgeries on Google with those that were awarded an ‘Outstanding’ status by the CQC, there was again some consistency between the results.

Several practices appeared on both lists – Astley General Practice and Ancoats Urban Village Medical Practice in Manchester, Granta Medical Practice in Cambridge, Woodbury Surgery in Exeter, and Stonegate Medical Practice in York.

GP Surgeries Rated Outstanding (Overall) in their Last CQC Inspections


Surgery Name	City	Number of Google Reviews	Average Google Reviews Rating (out of 5)	Last CQC Inspection Date
HAXBY GROUP CALVERT & NEWINGTON	HULL	47	1.9	29/11/2018
ROBIN LANE HEALTH AND WELLBEING CENTRE	LEEDS	80	2.1	29/06/2016
HAXBY GROUP HULL	HULL	73	2.3	30/11/2018
PORTER BROOK MEDICAL CENTRE	SHEFFIELD	96	2.3	18/12/2019
NORTHPOINT	HULL	9	2.4	16/06/2016
THE GOLDEN BROOK PRACTICE	NOTTINGHAM	33	2.4	20/11/2017
WHADDON HEALTHCARE	MILTON KEYNES	71	2.5	02/08/2016
ST THOMAS MEDICAL GROUP	EXETER	76	2.6	16/01/2018
HEATON ROAD SURGERY	NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE	43	2.6	10/02/2015
FOXHAYES PRACTICE	EXETER	29	2.7	14/12/2017
LEICESTER CITY ASSIST PRACTICE	LEICESTER	3	2.7	06/11/2014
THISTLEMOOR MEDICAL CENTRE	PETERBOROUGH	128	2.7	09/03/2022
ROTTON PARK MEDICAL CENTRE	BIRMINGHAM	28	2.8	19/12/2016
THE FORUM HEALTH CENTRE	COVENTRY	92	2.8	01/12/2016
ROPEWALKS GEN. PRACTICE	LIVERPOOL	69	2.8	15/12/2016
FIVE OAKS FAMILIY PRACTICE	MANCHESTER	60	2.8	05/04/2016
THE HEIGHT GENERAL PRACTICE	MANCHESTER	43	2.8	22/08/2017
WEST ROAD MEDICAL CENTRE	NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE	28	2.8	28/08/2019
RIDGACRE HOUSE SURGERY	BIRMINGHAM	60	2.9	12/03/2019
KIRKSTALL LANE MEDICAL CENTRE	LEEDS	41	2.9	10/03/2019
ST LEONARDS PRACTICE	EXETER	60	3.1	13/06/2018
CHP LTD - BRANSHOLME	HULL	52	3.2	16/06/2016
BURTON CROFT SURGERY (Dr Moxon & Partners)	LEEDS	44	3.3	17/11/2016
THE DOC'S SURGERY	MANCHESTER	64	3.3	21/06/2016
WEST GORTON MEDICAL PRACTICE	MANCHESTER	39	3.3	23/05/2018
THE OAKS MEDICAL CENTRE	NOTTINGHAM	49	3.3	17/11/2015
KINGSBURY ROAD MEDICAL CENTRE	BIRMINGHAM	21	3.4	05/03/2019
INCLUSION HEALTHCARE	LEICESTER	5	3.4	06/11/2014
EASTWOOD PRIMARY CARE CENTRE	NOTTINGHAM	17	3.7	24/05/2016
CAMBRIDGE ACCESS SURGERY	CAMBRIDGE	8	3.8	01/12/2021
LAUREL BANK SURGERY	LEEDS	46	3.8	10/11/2016
LUTHER STREET MEDICAL PRACTICE	OXFORD	13	3.8	20/04/2016
BOROUGHBURY MEDICAL CENTRE	PETERBOROUGH	212	3.8	29/03/2022
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL GROUP	READING	128	3.9	17/06/2019
SPRINGBANK SURGERY	YORK	4	4	14/09/2016
ARCH HEALTHCARE	BRIGHTON	16	4.1	28/01/2019
WYNDHAM HOUSE SURGERY	EXETER	8	4.1	26/08/2015
THORNTON MEDICAL CENTRE	LEEDS	36	4.1	05/12/2019
GOSFORTH MEMORIAL MED.CTR	NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE	28	4.1	15/03/2016
CADBURY HEATH HEALTHCARE	BRISTOL	20	4.2	25/07/2019
GRANTA MEDICAL PRACTICES	CAMBRIDGE	16	4.3	14/10/2019
WOODBURY SURGERY	EXETER	10	4.3	20/09/2016
ANCOATS URBAN VILLAGE MEDICAL PRACTICE	MANCHESTER	61	4.3	23/06/2015
STONEGATE MEDICAL CLINIC	YORK	27	4.7	17/05/2019
CHERITON BISHOP SURGERY	EXETER	4	4.8	15/07/2015
ASTLEY GENERAL PRACTICE	MANCHESTER	27	5	23/05/2017
ABBEYVIEW SURGERY	PETERBOROUGH	8	5	05/03/2020

Many of the CQC reviews are quite old

Another thing we spotted while conducting our research was that a massive eight in ten GP surgeries haven’t been inspected since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.


		%
Inspected in March 2020 or earlier (not inspected since Covid)	575	81%
Not inspected since 2018 or earlier	745	56%

While the CQC advises that it has introduced a monthly review of the information they hold, and they are using this to help prioritise their activity and guide them in how to respond, we noticed that there are a few practices that were considered to be performing below expected levels in their last official inspection several years ago but haven’t since been reviewed again.

Equally, the CQC advises that additional checks may be carried out for GPs deemed to be at ‘higher risk’ – with these checks including things such as the gathering of people’s experiences of care. However, again, we noticed several instances of surgeries getting poor online patient reviews but no official inspection having taken place there by the CQC for at least three years.

The reports go into quite a lot of detail

For anyone who would like to see how their own GP surgery stacked up in its latest CQC inspection, it’s easy to look this up yourself here.

While each report offers an overall rating, there is often more detail on how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led it considered to be.

Furthermore, some practices also have additional ratings for the service they offer specific types of patients.

Nationwide, we noted that surgeries were most likely to have been officially classified as ‘Inadequate’ in the overall safety and leadership/management criteria, while an ‘Outstanding’ rating was most likely to have been awarded to practices who evidenced high levels of responsiveness.

Is it...? CQC Rating	Safe	Effective	Caring	Responsive	Well-Led
Inadequate	1%	0.3%	0.0%	0.2%	1%
Requires improvement	3%	5%	1%	4%	2%
Good	96%	92%	95%	88%	91%
Outstanding	1%	3%	4%	7%	6%

When drilling down into specific patient groups, it is families and working-aged people who are most likely to receive a service that the CQC would consider as ‘requiring improvement’.


CQC Service Rating for Different Patients	People With Long Term Conditions	Families, children and young people	Older people	Work age people	People with poor mental health	Vulnerable people
Inadequate	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Requires improvement	4%	5%	2%	5%	3%	2%
Good	91%	5%	4%	90%	92%	91%
Outstanding	5%	90%	94%	5%	7%	7%

Call our team today0808 239 6043

Request a Callback

We're rated‘Excellent’

Our conclusion

Overall, it appears that when it comes to local healthcare provision there is somewhat of a ‘postcode lottery’.

While there are some city or town-specific trends between poor patient reviews and low CQC ratings, more often than not it appears to be largely down to the practice itself, with some GPs looking to offer a very high-quality service to their patients, while others in the area appear to fall below expected standards.

While an inadequate rating doesn’t necessarily equate to poor patient care, where there is a concern regarding safety and leadership capability it does suggest that there are risks to those who rely on those GP surgeries.

The support we can offer

We believe that GP surgeries are a vital front line of defence for people and that they should be adequately funded, and support should be made available to implement changes as needed following CQC inspections.

Sadly, failings in care at GP surgeries can have a devastating impact on patients. Where failings are identified, it is our opinion that lessons learnt should be shared across all surgeries to protect patients.

Patients who suffer as a result of medical negligence often pursue a claim for compensation to pay for follow up treatment, loss of earnings and rehabilitation. However, many take legal action in a bid to ensure that changes are made

If you believe you have experienced care from your GP that was below the expected level, then our expert solicitors are on hand to offer you a Free Claims Assessment.

We’ve recovered compensation for many people who have suffered because of medical negligence, and we’ve helped them to gain access to the specialist care, treatment and rehabilitation they need to start to rebuild their lives again.

We understand that taking legal action can seem frightening, but we pride ourselves on our friendly and supportive approach.

Our study in more detail

Our study was conducted in March and June 2022 using live data sources that will change over time. Further information about our sources and the methodology used are below.

Sources

List of GPs and practices - https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/file-downloads/gp-and-gp-practice-related-data
Google review data - https://www.google.com/maps
To find each GPs CQC rating - https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-service/find-family-doctor-or-gp
Information on inspection processes - https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/independent-healthcare/when-we-will-inspect-independent-healthcare-services
Categorisation information - https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/how-we-inspect-regulate/how-we-prioritise-risk-0

Methodology

We downloaded a list of the latest list of active GP surgeries in England
We filtered these by city
We selected a list of 21 mayor towns and cities, considering their population size and geographical distribution across England - we did not include London
We looked up each GP surgery name in Google Maps, and noted down the number of times it has been reviewed, and the average review rating
We then looked up each GP surgery name in the CQC database and noted down details about its inspection and review ratings
We then worked out the average review rating and CQC 'standard' per city or town
We also looked at how recently GP surgeries have been inspected. We refer to 'since the start of Covid-19' which means before 23rd March 2022
When preparing the ‘best 20’ and ‘worst 20’ lists, we discounted any GP practices with fewer than ten online reviews
In some towns / cities, there were not matching listings on Google and the CQC database (in terms of the practice name or address) and so only the available data was included and counted

Get in touch, today!

Fill in the form below to get in touch with one of our dedicated team members, or call our team today on: 0808 239 6043