Patients have had their say on the best and worst GPs in the Swindon area.

The latest results of NHS England's extensive annual independent survey of more than two million patients' experiences around the UK indicate which doctors’ surgeries are offering the most satisfying services for people in their communities.

Questions cover a variety of factors, like how easy it is to book an appointment, how easy the practice is to contact by phone, how good the healthcare professional was at listening to and treating them, and what happens if an appointment is needed out-of-hours.

The biggest indicator of patient satisfaction is how people answered "Overall, how would you describe your experience of your GP practice?"

Results from the varying response rates were tallied up to produce a percentage of each practice's patients who thought the GP's service was good overall.

The Adver’s rankings include 20 from the Swindon borough and a handful that are slightly further afield.

In the case of two practices receiving the same percentage satisfaction rate - such as Priory Road Medical Centre and Elmtree Surgery at 84, and Royal Wootton Bassett's New Court Surgery and North Swindon Practice at 77 - the practice with the larger response rate gets ranked higher than the other.

GPs just outside of Swindon topped the table, with Cricklade receiving a whopping 97 per cent satisfaction rate from 109 of its 228 patients.

Purton Surgery followed with an impressive 94 per cent overall rating from 117 of its 265 patients.

In Swindon itself, 111 of the 307 people registered with Old Town Surgery took part in the survey and 90 per cent of them ticked an answer of Fairly Good or Very Good when asked for their overall thoughts on the surgery's service.

Lawn Medical Centre was not far behind with 95 of its 245 patients sending back answers which resulted in an 87 per cent satisfaction rate.

It is worth noting that Moredon Medical Centre, Highworth, Taw Hill, Blunsdon, Tadpole Garden Village, and Hermitage's patients are represented in the result for Westrop Medical Practice (76 per cent).

Whalebridge Practice came last with 200 of its 699 patients responding to the survey with a 57 per cent satisfaction rate, while 95 of Hawthorn Medical Centre's 301 patients voiced their views with a satisfaction rate of 58 per cent.

Both of these practices scored better results than the bottom four of last year's GP satisfaction survey, all of whom have since improved in the estimations of the people they serve.