Reflecting on the GP Patient Survey webinar 2025

The survey findings provide valuable insights into patient experience with GP practices, and other local primary care services, across England. The aim of the webinar was to share information about the survey itself, the results, and how to use and access the findings.

The webinar covered:

• The history of the survey
• How it is run
• Key findings
• How to find the results on the website
• Ways the data can be used

You can watch the webinar here. 

The GPPS team invited questions about the survey. Answers can be found below.

Q: Is there a way to compare practices, PCN and ICS? How can I do this?

A: You can view the results for different practices, PCNs and ICS in a number of ways using our website and outputs. 

Practice search: You can search for your practice from the website homepage, click ‘Compare practices’ and add up to 3 other practices you want to see results for. This shows how results differ between practices for some key patient experience questions. 

PCN dashboard: This interactive Power BI tool is available on our website here and allows you to see results for all the survey questions (except dentistry) at PCN level. This also includes a comparison with national level results and all practice results within that PCN.

ICS slidepacks: These can be downloaded from our website and allow you to see results for key questions at ICS level. They also compares with regional and national level, and allow you to see results for all PCNs within that ICS.

Analysis tool: You can use the analysis tool, starting with practice level results and selecting the questions you would like to view results for. You can then add comparators, for example another practice, PCN, ICS and national results.

Excels: Excel outputs are available on the survey results page at practice, PCN, ICS and national level. These show all results for the survey. You can sort results from low-to-high to see comparisons.

Please note, the GP Patient Survey is not designed to rank GP practices. Results are drawn from a survey (a sample of the population) and therefore come with a degree of uncertainty. Ranking practices or other geographies without accounting for this uncertainty can produce misleading results. In addition, there is no single metric that can be used to effectively rank GP practices. However, the survey does highlight areas in which practices perform best and areas in which practices could improve, and should be used as one element of evidence.

Q: Why do smaller practices have the same sample size as practices with a much larger list size? How can we be confident that the results are representative?

A: About 2.7 million patients registered with a GP in England were selected in 2025 and over 700,000 patients responded. The survey uses a random probability approach which means that each patient has a known chance of selection. This allows us to make inferences about the practice as a whole (or about particular patient groups). The survey is designed to achieve the same number of responses per practice and PCN (100 and 200 respectively), to allow for similar confidence intervals which ensures we have enough responses in each practice to be confident that the results are statistically significant. The number of patients we select to achieve this target is driven by the predicted response rate for a particular practice (based on the response rate in the previous year with some minor adjustment). 

Q: What is the margin of error for percentages reported in the survey? What is the general rule of thumb for determining significant changes in responses year on year? Are there any specific questions where this rule doesn’t apply?

A: Confidence intervals  allow us to compare results over time: for GPPS at national level this interval is very narrow, and usually means that even small differences (of less than +0.25 percentage points) are statistically significant where everyone has answered the question. The fact that this year that the majority of changes are positive suggests an overall positive shift in attitudes.

Q: Will there be a deep-dive webinar or any other outputs on the 2025 GP Patient Survey results, including interesting findings and context? 

A: Last year we ran a webinar ‘Beyond the waiting room: How local context shapes GP experience'. We do not currently have another webinar scheduled. However, we are developing some videos to support practices to interpret the results, and establishing a user group to share learnings from those using GPPS results. Please reach out if you are interested in hearing more, or have questions about the results.

Q: Is it possible to have early access to the results under embargo to facilitate planning and prepare responses for media inquiries?

A: As GPPS is an official statistic and must meet the Code of Practice for Statistics, unfortunately we cannot share results in advance. Each year we expect results to be published in  July, with the publication date announced officially a month in advance.

If you were unable to attend the live webinar, or would like to revisit the information shared, you can access the following resources:

• Webinar recording
• Webinar slides
• Tutorial on navigating website and tools to look at results
• Publication day blog on key findings
• GPPS website

We welcome all feedback, so please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] with any questions or comments.