Patient Experience survey of GP and local nhs services 2011/12 Volume 1: Technical Report

Scottish Patient Experience Survey of GP and Local NHS Services 2011/12. This is a postal survey which was sent to a random sample of patients who were registered with a GP in Scotland in October 2011. This report contains details the survey design and development.


8 Survey Response

Overview

8.1 The response rate for the survey is the number of forms returned as a percentage of the number of people in the sample. In total, 605,896 surveys were sent to patients and 145,569 were returned completed, giving an overall response rate of 24 per cent. This exceeded the expected overall response rate of 23 per percent, based on response rates to previous surveys of this type.

Overall response rates for NHS Board areas

8.2 The highest response rate for an NHS Board was Orkney (37%) and the lowest response rate was for Greater Glasgow and Clyde (19%). Ten of the 14 NHS Boards met or exceeded the expected response rate for their NHS Board (Table 4). The calculations for the expected response rates are detailed in section 4.8 of this report.

Table 4 Response rate by NHS Board

NHS Board Total forms sent out Number of Responses Response Rate (%) Expected Response Rate (%)
Ayrshire and Arran 34,687 8,672 25 24
Borders 9,360 3,292 35 35
Dumfries and Galloway 13,392 4,418 33 36
Fife 27,994 7,555 27 30
Forth Valley 28,862 7,657 27 28
Grampian 40,645 11,938 29 28
Greater Glasgow and Clyde 202,905 38,354 19 19
Highland 45,674 14,555 32 29
Lanarkshire 68,969 14,805 21 20
Lothian 87,598 20,782 24 21
Orkney 4,193 1,540 37 37
Shetland 4,192 1,395 33 31
Tayside 32,033 8,976 28 30
Western Isles 5,392 1,630 30 25
Scotland 605,896 145,569 24 23

Response rate (actual and expected) by NHS Board

Response rates for GP Practices

8.3 Patients at smaller practices were more likely to respond than those at larger practices (Table 5).

Table 5 Response rate by practice list size

GP Practice list size Total forms sent out Number of responses Response rate (%)
< 2,500 102,007 27,388 27
2,500 - 4,999 179,495 41,541 23
5,000 - 7,499 148,719 34,917 23
7,500 - 9,999 101,766 24,724 24
10,000+ 73,909 16,999 23
Scotland 605,896 145,569 24

Response rate by patient characteristics

8.4 As expected, the response rate was lower for patients living in deprived areas. This was taken into account when the sample sizes were calculated (see Chapter 4 on Sample Design). The response rate ranged from 17 per cent for the patients living in the most deprived areas to 30 per cent for patients living in the least deprived areas (Table 6).

Table 6 Response rate by deprivation quintile6

Deprivation Total forms sent out Number of responses Response rate (%)
1 - Most deprived 151,275 25,133 17
2 127,133 28,078 22
3 127,248 34,323 27
4 105,824 30,399 29
5 - Least deprived 92,188 27,191 30
Scotland 605,896 145,569 24

8.5 The response rate ranged from 20 per cent of patients living in large urban areas to 35 per cent of patients living in remote rural areas (Table 7).

Table 7 Response rate by patient urban/rural location

Urban / Rural Total forms sent out Number of responses Response rate (%)
Large Urban Areas 284,067 55,979 20
Other Urban Areas 141,491 34,216 24
Accessible Small Towns 39,669 10,571 27
Remote Small Towns 17,769 5,191 29
Accessible Rural 59,435 18,279 31
Remote Rural 58,967 20,516 35
Scotland 605,896 145,569 24

Response rate by patient urban/rural location

8.6 The response rate increased with age and was highest in the 65-74 year olds (46%). This compared to a response rate of just eight per cent for those aged 17-24 (Table 8).

Table 8 Response rate by age group

Age Total forms sent out Number of responses Response rate (%)
17 - 24 79,308 6,718 8
25 - 34 105,973 11,524 11
35 - 44 105,577 17,748 17
45 - 54 110,065 26,461 24
55 - 64 88,746 33,313 38
65 - 74 64,069 29,430 46
75 and over 52,158 20,375 39
Scotland 605,896 145,569 24

Response rate by patient age group

8.7 The response rate was higher for females (28%) than it was for males (20%) (Table 9).

Table 9 Response rate by gender

Gender Total forms sent out Number of responses Response rate (%)
Male 301,570 61,273 20
Female 304,326 84,296 28
Scotland 605,896 145,569 24

Method of response

8.8 Of the 145,569 respondents, the majority (95%) sent their surveys back in the post. A total of 7,550 completed their survey online, of which 667 completed the survey using a JAWS7 reader (Table 10).

Table 10 Method of response

Method of response Number of questionnaires completed Questionnaires completed (%)
Post 138,019 95
Online 6,883 5
Online via JAWS 667 <1
Total number of respondents 145,569 100

8.9 Of the patients who were sent a questionnaire, 19,566 (3%) were returned as undeliverable or the address was insufficient. A list of these patients has been sent to PSD for investigation. It is likely that this list will include patients who moved away from their address without notifying their general practice. Therefore, feedback of information on these surveys assists the NHS in identifying and correcting administrative records that may require updating.

Contact

Email: Gregor Boyd

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