York GP surgery among the best in England, according to a study

Law firm Simpson Millar found that Stonegate Medical Clinic, in Stonegate, was the fourth best in England.

The firm have concluded from their study into over 850 GP surgeries in 21 English towns and cities, that there isn't a postcode lottery with the quality of local healthcare across the UK.

While they found some city-specific trends between low patient reviews and low CQC ratings, and vice versa, it appears to be largely down to the practice alone and not the area as a whole.

Average Ratings Per City (Google Reviews) and How this Compares to CQC Ratings Picture: Simpson Millar

• READ MORE: Huntington fire station cuts: York councillor calls for response to plans

They had wanted to know whether there was any correlation between the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection report rating, and the Google reviews left by patients – which included surgeries in York.

Stonegate medical clinic was determined to be the fourth best practice, receiving an average score of 4.7 out of five from 27 Google reviews, at the time of Simpson Millar’s study (last month).

Two of York’s practices had both high Google review scores and ‘Outstanding’ ratings from CQC.

These were Stonegate, with their last inspection on May, 17, 2019, and Springbank surgery, on York Road, which received an average score of four from their four patient reviews, with their last CQC inspection on September, 14, 2016.

Simpson Millar had analysed 96 per cent of the country’s GP surgeries. According to their findings, 91 per cent were rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, two per cent were rated as ‘requires improvement’ and one per cent ‘inadequate’ at their last CQC inspection.

Across the City of York, 13 per cent were rated ‘Outstanding’, while the average proportion for a city was five per cent, whereas none in York were rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’, while the average was three per cent.

This leaves 87 per cent of York’s surgeries with a ‘Good’ CQC rating.

Although, 15 per cent of England’s surgeries had an average Google patient review score of two out of five or less, while 11 per cent had an average of four or five out of five.

This meant the average Google review score was 2.81, while in York the average was 3.26.

Overall, the CQC found that nine out of 10 GP surgeries were performing well, but the public said that nine out of 10 did not provide them with a good experience.