Researchers have launched a new version of the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ-R) that GPs can use for revalidation.
The GPAQ-R has been approved by the RCGP as a patient survey questionnaire for revalidation and can be used to cut the administrative burden practices face through having to use multiple patient surveys.
The first GPAQ was developed in the late 1990s and was approved for use in QOF in 2004. It was replaced by the national GP Patient Survey run by IPSOS MORI in 2008, though a number of practices have continued to use GPAQ for their own purposes.
In the familiar short four-sided format, GPAQ-R asks about receptionists, appointments, opening times, communication with doctors and nurses, continuity of care and enablement. Whereas there were previously versions to send to patients by post and to use as an “exit survey” after consultations, these have now been merged into one version which can be used either in surgery or, if required, as a postal questionnaire.
The questionnaire is free to use and can be downloaded from the GPAQ website. It is designed so that GPs can add or subtract their own questions without disturbing the core parts of the survey that are needed for revalidation.
Professor Martin Roland, professor of health services research at the University of Cambridge Institute of Public Health said: ‘We hope that this will be a simple and practical way of reducing the burden on GPs who are faced with doing multiple surveys in their practices.’
