A SOUTH Cumbrian GP surgery has been named as one of the best in the country.

Cartmel Surgery is in the top five patients’ choice of the league table which is based on findings from the GP Patient Survey.

The survey is a major ongoing poll which sees more than a million people give their opinion on their healthcare providers each year.

Patients can find out how their doctors rate thanks to a GP practice comparison website that compares medical centres across the country.

Slaidburn Health Centre in Lancashire came out on top.

Also in the top five patients’ choice were Egton Surgery in Whitby, North Yorkshire, Old Parsonage Surgery in Goudhurst, Kent, Batheaston Medical Centre in Bath and Caldbeck Surgery in Wigton.

There are a number of categories that are taken into consideration in the surveys, all of which rate how satisfied patients have been during their interactions with the GP - from booking appointments to attending them, and the attitude of staff.

Cartmel Surgery saw 256 surveys sent out, with 160 returned.

87 per cent of the respondents said that they usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP when they would like to.

This is much higher in comparison to the local CCG average of 49 per cent, and the national average of 45 per cent.

99 per cent of those who completed the surveys said that they find it easy to get through to the GP practise by phone.

This is higher than the local CCG average of 72 per cent, and the national average of 68 per cent.

99 per cent of respondents also said that they were offered a choice of appointment when they last tried to make a general practise appointment.

This was again higher than the local CCG average of 64 per cent, and the national average of 69 per cent.

93 per cent of respondents said receptionists were ‘very helpful’, six per cent said they were ‘helpful’, and only one per cent said that they were ‘not very helpful’.

The surveys also took into account if patients were satisfied with the general practise appointment times that are available, how many were satisfied with the appointment offered, and how many took it.

100 per cent of people said that the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to gave them enough time, were good at listening, and was good at treating them with care and concern.

Dr Julie Colclough, a GP at Cartmel Surgery, said: “We are extremely pleased to see the overwhelmingly positive results of the GP Patients Survey.

“The whole team here deserve a lot of recognition, because like all practices across the country, we have faced lots of new and difficult challenges over the past 18 months. There has been a huge amount of stress for everyone involved in Primary Care, but it is so pleasing that our patients know we are working really hard.

“Being one of the smaller practices, we have a good relationship with our patients anyway and we’ve strived to maintain that even when restrictions made it more difficult to see patients face to face.”

Anybody who is interested in finding out how their doctors practice did can visit the website at: www.gp-patient.co.uk