Stroud GP survey 2026: Beeches Green 96%, Five Valleys 77%

Patients at 12 of the 13 GP practices in the Stroud district rated their surgery above the national average in this year’s GP Patient Survey, and two of them, Beeches Green Surgery at Stroud Health Centre and Frithwood Surgery in Bussage, scored 96% good overall experience against an England figure of 77%. The one Stroud practice at the national average, Five Valleys Medical Practice on King Street, was let down by its phones: 46% of its respondents said it was easy to get through, against 91% at Beeches Green a few hundred yards away. (GP Patient Survey 2026, Beeches Green results; Five Valleys results)

The survey is the official annual measure of what patients think of their GP practice. This year’s results were published on 9 July 2026 and rest on questionnaires sent out between 2 January and 13 April 2026; 654,714 patients aged 16 and over responded across England. Nationally 76.7% rated their overall experience as good and 56.9% found it easy to get through on the phone. (Ipsos, 9 July 2026; GOV.UK official statistics)

We pulled the published practice-level results for every practice the survey lists in the Stroud district, from Painswick down to Wotton-under-Edge. Each practice’s figures rest on between 80 and 131 returned questionnaires, so a few points either way is noise; a gap of 15 or 20 points is not.

Overall experience, ranked

Sources: GP Patient Survey 2026 practice pages for Beeches Green, Frithwood, Stonehouse Health Clinic, Prices Mill, Cam and Uley, Minchinhampton, Rowcroft, Culverhay, Hoyland House, The Willow Tree Practice, May Lane, Chipping and Five Valleys. Percentages are as published, rounded to whole numbers; the “ICS” row is the Gloucestershire integrated care system.

Three Stroud town practices, three different results

Stroud’s three town-centre practices sit within a few hundred yards of each other, at Stroud Health Centre on Beeches Green, Rowcroft Retreat and 1A King Street, and their patients report very different experiences of getting in.

At Beeches Green, 91% of respondents found the phones easy, every one of the 109 people who answered the question said the reception and administrative team was helpful, and 99% said they knew what the next step would be after they made contact. Once seen, 96% had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional and 93% felt their needs were met. Its weakest score was on waiting time: 71% said they waited about the right length of time for their last appointment. (Beeches Green results)

Rowcroft Medical Centre scored 89% overall, 82% on contacting the practice and 82% on the phones, with 95% rating reception helpful; 65% said their last wait was about right. (Rowcroft results)

Five Valleys Medical Practice scored 77% overall and 68% on contacting the practice, and 46% found the phones easy, all below the Gloucestershire figures of 81%, 76% and 62%. Its clinical scores were as strong as anyone’s: 99% of respondents had confidence and trust in the person they saw, 94% felt they were treated with care and concern and 97% felt their needs were met. The problem the survey records is access, not care. (Five Valleys results)

Frithwood, Stonehouse Health Clinic and Minchinhampton: the access leaders

The best access scores in the district were outside the town. At Frithwood Surgery on Tanglewood Way in Bussage, 97% found the phones easy and 97% rated their experience of contacting the practice good; 91% said their last wait was about right, 99% felt listened to and every one of the 123 respondents to the question had confidence and trust in the clinician they saw. (Frithwood results)

Stonehouse Health Clinic on the High Street scored 94% on the phones, 93% on contact and 89% on its website, on the smallest base in the district (80 responses). Minchinhampton Surgery scored 93% on the phones and 96% on contact, and 88% of its respondents said they usually get to see the healthcare professional they prefer, more than double the England figure of 42%, though only 49 people answered that question. (Stonehouse Health Clinic results; Minchinhampton results)

The other Stonehouse practice, The Willow Tree Practice at 31 High Street, scored 83% overall and 78% on the phones, and 57% said their last wait was about right. May Lane Surgery in Dursley also had 57% on waiting time. (Willow Tree results; May Lane results)

Wotton’s two surgeries: one leads the district on digital contact

Chipping Surgery on Symn Lane in Wotton-under-Edge finished second from bottom on overall experience at 80%, but recorded the district’s best digital scores by a distance: 95% found the practice website easy to use for getting in touch and 96% said the same of the NHS App, against 58% and 54% nationally. Its neighbour Culverhay Surgery scored 86% overall, 68% on the website and 57% on the app. (Chipping results; Culverhay results)

The national headline this year was the growth in online contact: 30.8% of patients last tried to contact their practice online, up from 22.4% in 2025. (Ipsos) Most Stroud practices are ahead of the national website figure but several are behind on the app: Rowcroft scored 44% on the app, May Lane 44%, Five Valleys 32% and The Willow Tree Practice 46%, all on small bases of 35 to 50 respondents, so treat them as indicative. (Rowcroft; May Lane; Five Valleys; Willow Tree)

How the survey works

Ipsos runs the survey for NHS England. Questionnaires go to a random sample of registered patients at every practice in England, by post with an online option; the national response rate was 22.1%. Locally the returns were much higher: Beeches Green had 290 questionnaires sent out and 113 returned (39%), Five Valleys 306 sent and 102 returned (33%), Rowcroft 300 and 109 (36%), Frithwood 290 and 127 (44%), Hoyland House in Painswick 259 and 127 (49%), Stonehouse Health Clinic 270 and 80 (30%). (Ipsos; practice results pages)

Results are weighted to reflect each practice’s registered population, and answers such as “I don’t know” are excluded before percentages are calculated. A practice’s overall score is the share of respondents answering “very good” or “fairly good”.

What it means for you

• You can look up your own practice. The GP Patient Survey practice search shows every question for every practice, with the Gloucestershire and national figures alongside.
• If phones are the problem at your surgery, the survey shows what the alternatives are worth. Chipping Surgery’s patients rate its website and app at 95% and 96%; at Five Valleys the same routes scored 59% and 32%. If you have not tried your practice’s online route recently, the national trend is towards it.
• Registering with a different practice depends on where you live. Each practice publishes its catchment area on its own website; check it before assuming you can move, and remember that the three Stroud town practices have overlapping areas.
• These figures are the baseline for next year. Fieldwork for the next survey normally begins in January; if you receive a questionnaire, returning it is the only way your practice’s number moves.

For the district’s other running stories, see our planning news page and what’s on in Stroud.