Table 3.

Ease of contacting practices by telephone, helpfulness of receptionists, appointment characteristics, frequency of consulting a preferred GP, and interpersonal quality of care in the General Practice Patient Surveys, 2011–2014^a

	Responses, n	Unweighted percentage of responders, %	Weighted percentage of responders, %
Ease of contact by telephone^b
Very easy	1 020 288	36.3	29.6
Fairly easy	1 293 282	46.0	48.5
Not very easy	355 258	12.6	15.2
Not at all easy	144 488	5.1	6.7
Total	2 813 316

Helpfulness of receptionists^c
Very helpful	1 561 893	54.8	47.3
Fairly helpful	1 070 939	37.6	42.8
Not very helpful	165 141	5.8	7.5
Not at all helpful	53 161	1.9	2.6
Total	2 851 134

Able to get an appointment^d
Yes	2 486 136	91.5	89.7
No	230 237	8.5	10.3
Total	2 716 373

Got the type of appointment wanted^e
Yes	2 333 194	94.1	93.7
No	145 954	5.9	6.3
Total	2 479 148

Got the timing of appointment wanted^{^e,^f}
Yes	1 818 058	77.8	77.5
No	520 132	22.2	22.5
Total	2 338 190

Convenience of appointment^e
Very convenient	1 282 530	52.4	47.0
Fairly convenient	1 024 922	41.9	45.7
Not very convenient	123 640	5.1	6.5
Not at all convenient	17 145	0.7	0.9
Total	2 448 237

Frequency of consulting preferred GP^g
Always or almost always	744 438	46.4	40.0
A lot of the time	364 934	22.8	23.4
Some of the time	412 203	25.7	29.7
Never or almost never	82 214	5.1	6.9
Total	1 603 789

	Responses, n	Unweighted mean (SD)	Weighted mean (SD)

GP interpersonal quality of care^h	2 778 536	1.6 (0.7)	1.7 (0.8)

Nurse interpersonal quality of care^h	2 487 778	1.6 (0.7)	1.6 (0.7)

↵a In total there were 2 912 535 survey responders from 8289 general practices; data presented where available for each variable. Weighted percentages account for survey design and non-response.
↵b Response excluded from analysis: ‘Haven’t tried’, n = 79 574.
↵c Response excluded from analysis: ‘Don’t know’, n = 40 588.
↵d Response excluded from analysis: ‘Can’t remember’, n = 77 477.
↵e Measure only applicable to responders who were able to get an appointment, n = 2 486 136.
↵f Response excluded from analysis: ‘Can’t remember’, n = 124 602.
↵g Measure only applicable to responders who had a preferred GP, n = 1 677 868.
↵h Measures range from 1 (all items ‘very good’) to 5 (all items ‘very poor’). SD = standard deviation.