Dunbeath gets 100% rating in medical practice survey

Caithness medical practices have had mostly good results in a nationwide survey that asked patients to state how satisfied they were with GP services.

Dunbeath Surgery, the Wick-based Pearson Practice and the Thurso and Halkirk Medical Practice scored much higher than the average positive rating of 69 per cent in Scotland’s Health and Care Experience Survey for 2023/24.

Three Harbours Medical Group, comprising Riverbank (Thurso), Riverview (Wick) and Lybster, was below the Scottish average, as was Canisbay and Castletown Joint Medical Practice.

Those taking part were asked to give ratings based on a number of factors. These ranged from how easy it was to contact GP practices to whether people had been treated with compassion and understanding, and how they would rate the arrangements for being able to speak to a doctor.

The main question was: “Overall, how would you rate the care provided by your GP practice?”

Answers were divided into three categories – positive, neutral or negative. Dunbeath achieved a 100 per cent positive rating.

Caithness results based on that overall question were:

Dunbeath Surgery: 100 per cent positive (from 109 responses)

The Pearson Practice, Wick: 92 per cent positive (from 120 responses)

Thurso and Halkirk Medical Practice: 84 per cent positive (from 104 responses)

Three Harbours Medical Group: 60 per cent positive (from 96 responses)

Canisbay and Castletown Joint Medical Practice: 55 per cent positive (from 140 responses)

Dr Ewen Pearson, who runs the Pearson Practice at Wick Medical Centre, said: “We are very happy as a practice with the results of the survey. They show the ongoing hard work and strong teamwork that we try very hard to maintain across the whole practice.

“We hope that NHS Highland is aware of these results and reflects on the benefit of hard-working local staff who strive very hard to provide continuity of care and best value for money for taxpayers.”

Across Scotland as a whole, the 69 per cent of people who rated their overall experience of general practice as positive represented a slight increase on the last survey in 2021/22 (67 per cent). However, it is lower than the survey prior to that in 2019/20 (79 per cent).

Nationally, 84 per cent of people who needed to see or speak to a doctor or nurse “quite urgently” were seen within two working days – slightly lower than in 2021/22 (85 per cent) and in 2019/20 (86 per cent).

Sixty-two per cent received face-to-face appointments at the general practice, a big increase from 2021/22 (37 per cent), when Covid was an obvious factor, but lower than in 2019/20 (87 per cent).

And 73 per cent of people rated their overall experience of out-of-hours healthcare as good or excellent, higher than 2021/22 (67 per cent) but lower than 2019/20 (79 per cent).

The Health and Care Experience Survey is carried out on a postal basis. It was sent to a random sample of people aged 17 and over who were registered with a general practice. Over 107,000 people responded nationally.

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