A massive one in six people in Bradford are dissatisfied with their GP's surgery staff.

Health service performance figures published last week revealed the district's patient satisfaction rating was the sixth worst in the country.

And Bradford GPs' leader Dr John Givans said ever-increasing demand on family doctors and their staff could be to blame.

The 17 per cent dissatisfaction figure was revealed in a national survey of patients made in 1998, which asked if they had complained or felt like complaining in the previous 12 months.

Dr Givans, of Bradford's Local Medical Committee, said the figure had come as a surprise to him.

"I'm not aware of any particular problem, and it's a curious question to ask if people felt like complaining - if they had a complaint, why didn't they complain?" he said.

He said increasing pressure of work for family doctors and their staff could be part of the problem in the district.

"They literally can't cope with the demand. The workload is a likely explanation. Surgery staff feel stressed out. It might be users interpret a harassed member of staff as one who is not co-operative or interested," he said.

Bradford's public health director Dr Dee Kyle, of Bradford Health Authority, said the satisfaction rating was published for the first time this year. "The range is from eight to 19 per cent and Bradford is, unfortunately, at 17. GPs in Bradford have been working closely with the health authority to improve patients' experiences with their services.

The health authority received 200 telephone complaints and 80 written ones in the year to the end of March 2000 about family doctors, dentists, pharmacists and opticians. The majority were about GP services.

e-mail: jan.winter@

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