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National surveys of NHS patients: general practice 1998: summary of key findings

The National Surveys of NHS Patients programme consists of a series of surveys designed to contribute to monitoring the performance of the NHS as seen from the patient's perspective. The Government committed itself to this programme in The new NHS - modern dependable White Paper which proposed the introduction of annual surveys of patients and users to allow systematic comparisons of experiences over time and between different parts of the country. The 1998 General Practice survey is the first in this series. It covered a wide range of issues including access and waiting times, patient-GP communication, patients' views of GPs and practice nurses in terms of knowledge, courtesy, etc, and the quality and range of such services as out-of-hours care and hospital referrals.

• Download summary of key findings (PDF, 654K)
• Full report