Patient experience across Swindon and Wiltshire falls below national benchmark
Several GP practices across Swindon and Wiltshire have been rated below the national average for patient satisfaction in the latest 2026 GP Patient Survey, with Phoenix Surgery in Swindon recording the lowest proportion of patients describing their overall experience as good. The national benchmark this year stood at 76.7% of respondents saying their surgery was either “very good” or “fairly good”.
The results, commissioned by NHS England and run independently by Ipsos, provide a snapshot of how patients rate the overall experience at their registered practice. Fieldwork ran from 2 January to 13 April 2026, inviting around three million people in England to take part and yielding 654,714 responses nationwide.
Lowest local ratings led by Phoenix Surgery
In the Swindon and Wiltshire area, Phoenix Surgery (Swindon) posted a 65% ‘good’ rating. Within that result, 6% of its respondents described their experience as “very poor”, with a further 14% selecting “fairly poor”. Two Wiltshire surgeries — Avenue Surgery (Warminster) and Downton Surgery near Salisbury — both registered 68% good ratings. Several Swindon practices also featured in the lower part of the table, including Ashington House Surgery, North Swindon Practice and Whalebridge Practice.
While the published local data rank the lowest performers in Swindon and Wiltshire, they also underline that all ten surgeries listed fell short of the national average for positive overall experience.
| Practice | Location | Good rating (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Surgery | Swindon | 65 |
| Avenue Surgery | Warminster | 68 |
| Downton Surgery | Near Salisbury | 68 |
| Ashington House Surgery | Swindon | 69 |
| Tinkers Lane Surgery | Royal Wootton Bassett | 69 |
| North Swindon Practice | Swindon | 69 |
| Kennet & Avon Medical Partnership | Marlborough & Pewsey | 71 |
| Whalebridge Practice | Swindon | 72 |
| Avon Valley Practice | Salisbury | 72 |
| Three Chequers Medical Practice | Salisbury | 72 |
How the survey works and what it tells us
The GP Patient Survey is an annual official measure of patient experience across England. Adults aged 16 and over registered with a GP are contacted by post and offered online and paper completion routes. It produces comparable results for each practice on a range of metrics. The figure highlighted here is the proportion of respondents rating their overall experience as positive.
It is important to note that these figures reflect the views of those who responded during the survey window; they are not the same as clinical outcomes or inspection judgements, but they do offer a consistent view of how patients feel about access, communication and the service they receive overall. In this year’s data, the national picture showed a modest improvement in satisfaction compared with the previous survey, though a number of Swindon and Wiltshire practices continue to trail the England average.
Patients were asked whether their overall experience of their GP practice was “very good”, “fairly good”, “neither good nor poor”, “fairly poor”, or “very poor”.
What this means for patients in Swindon
For local patients, the ranking provides a prompt to engage with their practice’s published information and to consider how their own experience compares with the survey picture. The data indicate particular pressure points for some larger surgeries and multi-site practices as well as smaller providers. In Swindon specifically, the presence of Phoenix Surgery, Ashington House Surgery, North Swindon Practice and Whalebridge Practice in the lower band suggests a continued focus on improvement will be closely watched by service users.
At the same time, the survey’s reach — with hundreds of thousands of responses nationally — means these results will inform how commissioners and practices understand patient priorities for the coming year. Areas such as appointment access, the helpfulness of reception teams, continuity of care and digital routes into services often underpin overall scores, even though the headline figure summarises the experience in a single measure.
Methodology at a glance
- Commissioned by NHS England and conducted by Ipsos.
- Fieldwork: 2 January–13 April 2026.
- Approximately 3 million patients invited; 654,714 responses received across England.
- Headline measure used here: proportion rating their overall experience as “very good” or “fairly good”.
Full practice-level findings, including question-by-question breakdowns, are available through the survey’s official publication channels for those who wish to explore results in more depth.
