Health and Care Experience Survey 2025 to 2026: National Report

Out of hours healthcare

Overall care

Positive rating of overall care from Out of Hours healthcare in 2025 to 2026 was similar to in 2023 to 2024 (72% and 73% respectively).

Figure 7: Proportion of people rating the overall out of hours care as positive (“Excellent” or “Good”), neutral (“Fair”), or negative (“Poor” or “Very poor”), survey year ending 2020 to survey year ending 2026, weighted percentages.

Contacts

19% of people contacted an NHS service when they wanted to see a healthcare professional, but their GP Practice was closed, in the 12 months prior to the survey. This percentage is slightly lower compared with 2023 to 2024 (20%), but larger compared with 2021 to 2022 and 2019 to 2020 (15% and 17% respectively).

These people, who received Out of Hours healthcare, were asked to think about the last time they tried to get treatment when their GP Practice was closed and describe what they did. They could tick one or more options.

The majority of people phoned NHS 24 (111) the last time they tried to get treatment when their GP Practice was closed.

Figure 8: Who people contacted when trying to access healthcare when their GP Practice was closed, survey year ending 2026, weighted percentages.

Note: Respondents were able to tick more than one response to this question so percentages will not sum to 100.

Mode of consultation

Out of Hours consultations were predominantly either at hospital / location (53%), or over the telephone (41%).

Figure 9: How people consulted with the healthcare professional during Out of Hours healthcare, survey year ending 2026, weighted percentages.

Person-centred care

69% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “My treatment and care was well coordinated”.

Figure 10: Person-centred care statements for Out of Hours healthcare, survey year ending 2026, weighted percentages.