Figures have revealed patient experiences of pharmacies across East Cambridgeshire.

The results of NHS England's annual GP Patient Survey for 2024 highlighted whether patients were happy with their pharmacies after completing a questionnaire.

Patients who have used pharmacies over the last 12 months were surveyed, and the data was collected from January 2 this year to March 25.

Ninety per cent of patients at St George’s Medical Centre in Littleport said they had a ‘good experience’ using pharmacy services – the highest in the district.

St George’s Medical Centre was one of six pharmacies where 90 per cent or more of patients reported positive experiences, which included St Mary's Surgery.

In fact, on average patients across East Cambridgeshire reported a slightly lower overall approval rating of pharmacy services than the national average, with a score of 86 per cent compared to the 86.8 per cent rating taken from pharmacies across the country.

At the other end of the scale, patients at Burwell Surgery reported a lower overall satisfaction rating when accessing community pharmacy services, scoring 84 per cent.

It was the only GP surgery where patients did not rank community pharmacy services higher than 80 per cent.

The next lowest-rated pharmacy was Staploe Medical Centre in Soham, with 86 per cent of patients reporting they had a good experience of pharmacy services in the district overall.

In total, patient experiences of pharmacies fell below the national mark of 86.8 per cent.

NHS England highlighted though that only a handful of patients completed the survey at some practices, so the figures may not reflect an entirely accurate picture of each surgery's performance.

A spokesperson for NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said: “Pharmacies across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough offer a great range of services to local people, including health advice about common ailments, help with new and existing medications, and treatments for some conditions.

“We continue to work with pharmacy teams in our area to ensure that local communities have a good experience of using their pharmacy, and to raise awareness of all of the different forms of support pharmacies can offer.”