THE best and worst performing GP surgeries in Mid Essex have been unveiled after the results of a nationwide patient survey were published.

Almost 4,000 people in the Mid Essex health region, which includes Chelmsford, Maldon, Braintree and Witham, rated their clinics in 23 key areas, including waiting times, quality of care, ease of making an appointment and their overall experience.

The results in the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group were largely positive, despite many facing swingeing budget cuts from central government.

The annual survey revealed that a total of 81 per cent of patients rated their overall surgery experience as “very good” or “fairly good”, just four per cent shy of the national average and far from the worst performing group in the county.

Patients also feel the care given by their doctors is largely very positive as 94 per cent reported that they have trust and confidence in their GP, which increases to 97 per cent for nurses.

Where GPs in Mid Essex are struggling is ease of making an appointment for patients.

Mid Essex received the lowest score in the county as only 66 per cent rated the appointment-making experience as good, far below the national average of 73 per cent.

The top performing GP surgery in the Mid Essex area, as perceived by patients, was the William Fisher Medical Centre in High Road, Southminster.

The surgery, which has 6,289 patients and two GPs, received an outstanding score as 98 per cent of their patients said their experience was good and an impressive 100 per cent said they had confidence in their GP.

The best performing GP surgery in Chelmsford is the North Chelmsford NHS Health Centre, which is located in Sainsbury’s in White Hart Lane.

The surgery, which has a total of 4,599 patients and four GPs, received a score of 96 per cent for patients who rated the experience as good with 88 per cent saying they would recommend the surgery to others.

The lowest performing surgery in Mid Essex was the St Lawrence Medical Practice, in Church Lane, Braintree, which fell way below the score of any other surgery in the region.

Only 38 per cent rated their experience as good, 22 per cent lower than the next worst performing, Burnham Surgery.

The practice has 12,000 patients and was taken over by Virgin Care in 2016.

Lisa Gregory, Head of Primary Care Operations at Virgin Care, said: “Since taking on the practice, we are very pleased at how many improvements we’ve been able to make and patients are now able to feel the difference with easier access and better facilities.

“We still have much to do, working to continue to make the best of our new building and the extra facilities we can offer as a result.”

A spokesperson for Mid Essex CCG said: “The figures are a powerful tool for patients to see how their practice is rated. They also confirm issues we as a CCG had identified and started to address.

“Steps we have already taken include developing plans for GP practices in particular areas to work together, and with us, on developing local care.”