Published on: 10 July 2026
GP practices in Herefordshire and Worcestershire have, once again, scored better than the national average in key areas in this year’s GP Patient Survey results reflecting their hard work and dedication to providing and improving services across the two counties.
The results of the 2026 GP Patient Survey were released this week and showed that residents in the two counties had a more positive experience of their practice than those elsewhere in the country and came out on in the top five in the country.
The survey, which was conducted by Ipsos MORI, took place between 1 January 2026 and 13 April 2026.
Herefordshire and Worcestershire came fifth in the country with 80% of patients surveyed said their overall experience of their GP practice was good or very good, which is above the National average of 77%.
All GP practices across Herefordshire and Worcestershire offer online services including through the NHS App where 49% are ordering online prescriptions (increasing the last year’s percentage of 43%) and matching the National average of 49%.
65% said they found it easy to use their practice website, improving on last year’s 59% and ahead of the National average of 58%, and 64% found it easy to contact their GP practice using the NHS App, improving on last year’s 58%, again ahead of the National average of 54%.
89% reported that receptionists and administrative staff were helpful (National 85%), up from 88% in 2025.
66% of people felt that it was easy to get through to someone on the phone, this was up from last year’s 61% and again beating the National average of 57% for 2025.
The majority of patients (93%) say they were happy with their level of involvement with decisions made about their care (National 92%), 89% felt the person they saw listened to them (National 87%), and 88% felt they were treated with care and concern (National 86%).
For dental access 83% said they were able to get an NHS dental appointment, up from last year’s 77% and above the National average of 81%.
89% reported positive experiences of using pharmacy services up from 88% last year and matching the National average of 89%.
Will Taylor, Chief Medical Officer, NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire said: “This is yet again, another set of encouraging results for Herefordshire and Worcestershire practices, who continue to work to improve access to GP services for the people of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
“Our practices continue to make improvements with introducing better telephone and online systems, enabling better access to features of the NHS App to allow ordering repeat prescriptions, accessing medical records and receiving messages about their care and treatment.
“We acknowledge that dental access had been an issue across the two counties in the past, and it is encouraging to see that access has significantly improved over the last year, now exceeding national levels.
“There is always improvement to be made to ensure people have equal access across our two counties to the care they need when they need it, in a way that works for them, but we are really pleased to see the improvements our practices have made over the last year.”
