National Surveys of NHS Patients: General Practice, 1998

The National Surveys of NHS Patients programme comprises 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 1997, in <i>The New NHS - modern dependable</i> 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 first survey, covering general practice patients, was carried out in 1998. The second survey, covering Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) patients, took place in 1999. The third survey, covering Cancer patients, took place in 2000. The fourth survey, covering General Practice, took place in 2002. Further information about the series may be found on the Department of Health <a href="http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/PublishedSurvey/NationalsurveyofNHSpatients/index.htm" title ="National Surveys of NHS Patients">National Surveys of NHS Patients</a> web page.<br>
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The aim of the General Practice survey was to gather information among the general adult population in England regarding use and experiences of general practice health services, and to assess the quality of these services 'through the patients' eyes'. As this was the first in a series of surveys, planned to be repeated, the intention was to establish baseline data for general practice patients so that trends could subsequently be measured. The survey was designed to give reliable results at individual health authority level as well as at the national level, so that comparisons between authorities could be made.