The 2023 GP Patient survey was published earlier this year, revealing what patients thought of their local GP practice.

The annual survey saw around 760,000 patients complete a questionnaire asking about their experiences with their GP surgery.

The NHS England figures showed overall satisfaction in GPs across England fell to its lowest level since the survey began in 2018, with 71.3 per cent of patients rating the service as "good" or "very good" in 2023 – down from 72.4 per cent in 2022.

But where are the highest-rated GP practices in south Essex?

We ranked the top six in the area by the percentage of people who rated the service as good or very good, excluding those with fewer than 100 responses.

1. the Greensward Surgery

Coming in first in south Essex was the Greensward Surgery, where 52.3 per cent of 119 people said their experience at the practice was very good, and 42 per cent described it as good.

It meant the Hockley practice was rated at least good by 94.3 per cent of patients, making it the highest rated practice in south Essex.

Meanwhile, 3.8 per cent described the service as poor or very poor.

2. Warrior Square Surgery

Warrior Square Surgery came in second with a score of 93.8 per cent.

Some 67.2 per cent of patients at the practice rated the service as very good, while a further 26.6 per cent believed it was just good.

Meanwhile, 4.4 per cent described the service as poor or very poor.

3. The Highwood Surgery

Coming in the top three was the Highwood Surgery in Brentwood, which 93.6 per cent of 129 patients rated as good or very good.

The practice was rated very good by 85.8 per cent of patients, and good by 7.8 per cent.

However, no patients said the service was very poor, but 4 per cent said it was poor.

4. Stock Surgery

Rounding out the top four GP practices in south Essex was Stock Surgery.

Of the 122 patients who responded to the GP survey, 92.7 per cent said their experience at the practice was either good or very good.

This included 55.4 per cent saying the practice was "very good", the highest grade on the survey.

5. Dell Medical Centre

At fifth place in the rankings was Dell Medical Centre.

Patients' experience at the Grays practice was rated as good or very good by 89.5 per cent of the 118 respondents to the GP survey.

Of those, 65.6 per cent rated it as very good.

6. Ashingdon Medical Centre

Coming it at sixth in the rankings is Ashingdon Medical Centre.

Some 87.4 per cent of patients who responded to the GP survey graded their service as good or very good.

At the other end of the scale, 2.7 per cent said their experience at Ashingdon Medical Centre was very poor.