Test Valley borough councillor Amanda Ford raised concerns after seeing first-hand the difficulties residents face in accessing care at North Baddesley Surgery.

The independent councillor has called for greater investment in the village’s GP services to keep pace with the growing population and planned future developments.

She said: “The system simply cannot cope with the level of demand. The Government’s ‘build, build, build’ agenda is not being matched with the healthcare infrastructure communities need.”

Following the comments, practice leaders said they met with Cllr Ford and two other councillors to discuss issues raised by patients and review the latest data.

The latest 2026 NHS England GP patient survey figures show an overall positive picture at North Baddesley Surgery, with patient responses often higher than the national average.

North Baddesley Surgery (Image: Google)

Overall patient experience at the practice rose by 6 percentage points to 82 per cent, compared with a national average of 77 per cent.

The practice said overall experience of contacting the surgery increased by 5 per cent to 77 per cent, while the proportion of patients finding it easy to get through on the phone jumped from 40 per cent to 68 per cent.

Online access has also improved, with 62 per cent saying it was easy to contact the practice via its website, up 7 per cent and slightly ahead of the 58 per cent national average.

Around two-thirds of patients felt the wait for their appointment was about right, but roughly a third said it took too long.

Figures show that 16 per cent were seen on the same day, four per cent the next day and 27 per cent within a few days.

However, 18 per cent waited between one and two weeks, and 19 per cent reported waiting longer than two weeks.

A spokesperson for the practice said: “We work closely with our commissioners on demand management and timely patient access and as with other practices in our area, we have measures in place such as additional funded same-day appointments and digital access.

“We aim to build lasting relationships with our patients; we value their time and try to make every interaction as efficient and pleasant as possible.”