The ease of making an appointment at a GP in Reading varies by as much as 40 per cent between practices, according to a survey.

GPs would be forced to provide face-to-face appointments to every patient that requests them under Labour plans to make seeing doctors easier.

With shadow health secretary Wes Streeting stating “patients must come first” as he announced the proposals at the Labour conference in Liverpool, we looked at the  experience of booking an appointment in Reading.

On average, 56 per cent of people had a good or very good experience making an appointment at UK surgeries, while 25 per cent had a poor or very poor experience, according to the most recent GP Patient Survey (July 2022).

 

Six of Reading’s GP centres were above the national average while nine slipped below it. Patients at six of those had rated their experience more poorly than the UK average.

Western Elms & Circuit Lane Surgeries was rated poor/very poor at almost twice the rate of the national average.

Converseley, less than one per cent of patients booking an appointment at Pembroke Surgery had a negative experience.