GP Ratings is a different type of UK patient education app

When  it comes to patient education apps, physicians have a great selection. There are apps such as the Orca Health Decide series or the DrawMD visual education app series.
Some patient education apps are not focused on diseases or conditions but rather on the range and accessibility of services available to the user.
GP Ratings is the first app of this kind specifically for the UK which takes advantage of the recent GP patient survey conducted by the The UK Department of Health.

The app is designed to assist would be patients see ratings of their local GP surgery as deemed by information collected in a recent nationwide government study.
The app contains detailed ratings for the 8,300 surgeries in England. On average each surgery has 130 survey respondents for each of the questions below.
The measures are:

• Would patients recommend their GP Surgery to others?
• Are patients able to see a Doctor within 2 working days?
• Are patients satisfied with their ability to see a preferred Doctor?
• Are patients satisfied with the care they received?
• Do patients have confidence and trust in their Doctor?
• Do patients feel their Doctor involves them in decisions about their care?
• Are patients happy with the surgery opening hours?

The data is converted into a star rating so it’s easy to interpret. An average of these ratings is then taken and compared nationally to give an overall star rating.
Upon entering the app, each user is prompted to enter their postcode or alternatively search by GPS.

This leads the user to a list of local surgeries and their average rating. They can also be viewed on a Google map by turning the iPhone into horizontal orientation.

Tapping on an individual practice provides more detailed answers to the questions above. There is also an option to call the surgery directly from the app or alternatively there is an option to get directions (using Google Maps).
Perhaps the only obvious omission is the lack of detailed opening hours with each surgery which would be useful information when selecting a surgery.

Price:

• £1.49 (for the UK only)

Likes:

• Ability to search by GPS/Postcode
• Detailed ratings for local practices

Dislikes:

• No mention of opening times

Overall:

Overall the GP Ratings has a simple goal, to effectively inform patients about the state of their local family practices. It accomplishes the goal in an efficient manner and definitely worth a look for patients who are interested in finding out more about their local practices. It can also act as  a motivating factor for surgeries who may not have done as well as expected and are keen to improve their ratings.
iTunes Link

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