GP surgeries to be ranked out of 10 The patient experience measure, as the Department of Health is calling it, will apply to all 8,000-plus GP surgeries in England with immediate effect. It will be calculated using data from the NHS's GP Patient Survey, which collects information from about a million people a year who are chosen randomly and either sent potal forms or asked to complete an online form. The figures will be published on the NHS Choices website, which enables patients to search for health services by postcode. Lord Howe said: "As we set out in our Information Strategy, we want to make it easier for patients to find the best NHS care for them. Giving patients more information about their local NHS is a big part of our commitment to transparency and using data to drive improvements. Opening up this data is another step forward in giving people more choice. Patients will now be able to see exactly what the experience of being a patient at each GP surgery is really like. This data will not only help patients choose the right GP surgery for them but will also give GP surgeries and the NHS new information they can use to make fresh, innovative improvements. A Department of Health spokesman said people would also be able to find GP surgeries in their areas with experience of treating people with particular conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or epilepsy. Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, welcomed the new ratings. She said: "They will result in more information being available for patients when they are making a choice about which GP to register with. They will also enable patients to compare the performance of their own GP with others. Her organisation was receiving more and more calls about problems like securing appointments and surly receptionists, she noted. "These changes will not resolve these issues overnight, but providing clear and easily comparable data is certainly a step forward," she said. But doctors have serious misgivings. Dr Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Clarity and transparency are important and we have been involved with this project in order to give patients the clearest picture of the standard of services available from their local surgery. We do, however, have concerns regarding how the data could be used. We would not advise rating GP surgeries out of 10, as is being suggested by the Department of Health today, because a lot of what our patients tell us they value about general practice - trust, caring, kindness, and willingness to listen - is immeasurable. Her concerns were mirrored by the BMA. A spokesman said: "Reducing surgeries to a score out of ten fails to allow patients to give detailed responses. The rating would also fail to take into account the differing challenges that each GP practice may face, especially in terms of resources which are increasingly being squeezed by government cuts. The idea of patients being able to rank surgeries publicly is not new. In 2009, Labour initiated the system by which people could recommend their surgery - or not - on the NHS Choices website, and leave comments explaining their decision. It was explicitly modelled on commercial internet rating systems used by the likes of Amazon and TripAdvisor. Ministers had first wanted to enable people to rate individual GPs but dropped that idea in the face of fierce opposition from doctors.