Facebook in general practice: a service evaluation in one health economy

Article Figures & Data

Download figure
Open in new tab
Download powerpoint
Figure 1. Public engagement indicated by numbers of 'likes' on official and unofficial Facebook pages
Download figure
Open in new tab
Download powerpoint
Figure 3. NHS England Patient Satisfaction score (%) versus unofficial Facebook review score.
Download figure
Open in new tab
Download powerpoint
Figure 2. NHS England Patient Satisfaction score (%) versus official Facebook review score.

Table 1. Practice use, feedback and engagement with NHS Choices and Facebook

		NHS Choices	Facebook use
		NHS Choices	Official pages	Unofficial pages
Number of practices		83	31^a	58^a
Reviews
Number of practices allowing reviews		83	14	33
	Number of reviews per practice	5.4	10.7 (SD = 11.5)	6.4 (SD = 4.6)
	Mean review score (SD)	3.6/5 (SD =1.0)	4.25/5 (SD = 0.9)	3.2/5 (SD = 1.7).
User interaction
Number of likes		N/A	7747 (SD = 279.7)	1358 (SD = 20.7)
Number of check-ins		N/A	4133 (SD = 309.0)	6126 (SD = 141.2)
Mean check-ins per practice (SD)		N/A	159	153

Box 1. Examples of comments relating to emergent themes

Theme	Positive	Negative	Neutral
Waiting times	'The online system is great, I regularly need to see the nurse for a contraceptive injection and always can get an appointment within the week, if not the same day, either on the phone or online.' (NHS Choices)	'I took my son who has tonsillitis. 85 minutes to be seen as the GP had gone to lunch and was stuck in traffic!' (NHS Choices)	'All surgeries, it seems, have difficulty getting appointments, but I assume it is because they are so busy.' (NHS Choices)
GPs	'I saw a doctor who was absolutely fantastic and made me feel very comfortable.' (NHS Choices)	'I will always ask for second opinion now if I have to see one of the DRs from here as I [was] wrongly diagnosed early this year.' (Facebook)	'Some of the doctors are better than others.' (Facebook)
Reception staff	'...the staff [reception staff] are also kind, helpful and polite.' (NHS Choices)	'They [reception staff] treat patients with utter disdain and make out that every enquiry is a massive inconvenience.' (NHS Choices)	'The reception staff are okay.' (Facebook)
Others	'The nurses there are brill, worked wonders in my ear.' (Facebook)	'This practice and it seems to rely solely on locums.' (NHS Choices)	'The surgery is always clean and the waiting times are not too bad.' (NHS Choices)