Figures have revealed the best and worst-rated GP surgeries in Huntingdonshire, according to the patients who use them. 

The results of NHS England's annual GP Patient Survey for 2024 highlighted whether patients were happy with their surgeries after completing a questionnaire.

Patients were asked for their views on a range of topics, including making appointments, ease of making contact via telephone and confidence in the healthcare professional.

Great Staughton Surgery in St Neots was rated best in the district for 'overall experience' with an approval rating of just over 97 per cent. 

Great Staughton Surgery was one of three surgeries to achieve a rating of 90 per cent or higher, which included Moat House Surgery and Alconbury Surgery. 

In fact, GP surgeries across Huntingdonshire had a higher overall satisfaction approval rating that the national average, with a score of 79 per cent compared to the 74 per cent rating taken from more than 6,000 surgeries across the country. 

At the other end of the scale, Lakeside Health St Neots received the lowest overall satisfaction rating among patients, scoring 48.1 per cent.

Lakeside Health St Neots, also known as Cedar House Surgery, was the only practice not to achieve a satisfaction rate higher than 50 per cent.

The next lowest-rated GP surgery was the Riverport Medical Practice in St Ives, with 65 per cent of patients answering that they were satisfied with the service at the practice.

In total, four surgeries in the district fell below the national mark of 74 per cent, including Priory Fields Surgery and Grove Medical Practice.

NHS England highlighted though that only a handful of patients completed the survey at some practices, so the figures may not reflect an entirely accurate picture of each surgery's performance. 

Across the topics covered, GP surgeries in Huntingdonshire were notoriously ranked by patients as difficult to get through on the phone.

Only 15 per cent of patients at Lakeside Health in St Neots found it easy to go through the phone to book an appointment, with nine other surgeries falling below the district average.

Despite the low ratings in some aspects, the majority of patients were extremely confident in help provided by the GP receptionists, with an average of 86 per cent finding practice staff 'helpful'.

A spokesperson for NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said: “We understand how important General Practice is to local people, as their GP practice is often their first port of call when they are worried about their health.

“Our GP practices are offering hundreds of thousands of appointments every month, and we are grateful for the commitment and dedication from GP teams across the area to their patients.”