Patient experience and trust in NHS primary care 

A public survey and interviews captured patient experiences on the following: 

• Overall trust in, and satisfaction with, primary care providers 

• Trust in primary care as an accurate source of information, particularly about Covid-19 

• Provider communication and engagement during consultations 

• Levels of satisfaction with remote healthcare services 

• Discrimination relating to ethnicity, language, or other personal characteristics. 

More than half of Asian and Black participants felt that they were treated differently by primary care providers due to their ethnicity or other personal characteristics, such as gender or socioeconomic status. 

Overall, Black and ethnic minority groups were more likely to feel that primary care providers did not listen to their concerns, with Bangladeshi/Pakistani and non-British White participants less likely to feel that their concerns were acted on. 

Across all ethnicities, common concerns emerged around difficulties accessing appointments, concerns on the accuracy of remote diagnoses, misdiagnoses, and on the quality of medical care received. Additional barriers to communication were faced by participants whose first language was not English.