During November 2011, the survey was sent to a random sample of patients registered with GP practices in Scotland. Results will be published on 29 May 2012.
The survey materials are available below for information:
Below are some frequently asked questions about the survey.
The survey asks about your experiences with your local NHS services in the last year. The answers that you give are important because it will help us to understand more about the quality of services, what works well and what needs to be improved.
A relative, friend or carer may help you to fill in the survey, but please remember that you should give all of the answers from your own point of view. If you would prefer, you can give your answers over the phone instead, by phoning the helpline on 0800 783 2896. The person on the phone will need you to tell them the number that is on the front of this letter.
If you phone the survey helpline on 0800 783 2896 and tell them your name and address, they will be able to give you your personal number to log in and complete the online survey.
If you have contacted NHS services on behalf of a child or someone else that you were looking after, but not for yourself, then please answer the questions based on your experiences of doing this. When answering questions about the GP surgery, please make sure you are thinking about the one named on the letter that you received with the survey.
If you have not been in touch with NHS services at all, either for yourself or someone you look after, we would still like you to complete the few questions that will apply to you and return the form by 31st January.
If you are no longer at the GP surgery named in the letter but used the named surgery in the last 12 months, please complete the questionnaire.
Please check with your GP surgery, as it is possible that they are known by more than one name.
Please accept our apologies for this. It may be that the NHS patient records have not been updated in time to stop the survey being sent to this person.
No, taking part is voluntary, and you don’t have to answer every question if you don’t want to. Please fill in as much as you can though, because the more that people answer, the more we can understand about the different experiences of people across Scotland. Sometimes we will ask you to skip a question if it doesn’t apply to you.
We picked names at random from the NHS database of patients registered with a GP. The NHS stores your contact details securely and confidentially under the terms of the Data Protection Act. This database has no information about your medical history.
No. Staff at your GP surgery do not know which patients have been sent the survey, and they will only see anonymous results.
On page 7 of the survey, you can leave comments about your experiences of using your local NHS services. There is a space for comments about your GP surgery and a space for comments about other local NHS services.
If you have any other comments about the NHS in Scotland, you can share your story online through the “share stories” link above.
If you want to complain about NHS services in Scotland you can find information about how to do this on the Citizens Advice website here:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/your_family/health_index_scotland/nhs_complaints_scotland.htm
The survey results will be published on 29 May 2012. GPs and NHS Boards will use their results to understand and improve the quality of the services they provide.
