GPAQ General Practice Assessment Questionnaire
FAQs
1. What are the conditions for use for GPAQ V3? Who can use it? Do we have to pay?
GPAQ can be used, and adapted if required, by individual practices for their own surveys provided that acknowledgement is given ie the copyright statement above is included, and provided the GPAQ questionnaire is not used for commercial services. A further requirement is to send raw data ie your data entry spreadsheet back to gpaqadmin@dsl.pipex.com for (anonymised) future research. GPAQ is, however, copyright University of Cambridge and University of Manchester but individual practices may use GPAQ royalty free ie with no fee to pay. GPAQ may NOT be used for commercial services. Details of companies licensed to provide an analysis service can be found below.
2. Where can I get copies of the GPAQ V3 Questionnaire?
The questionnaire is available to download and print from the home page of this website. Individual practices may print out and make as many copies as they need to carry out their survey. It is not essential to print in the two colours.
There is also a fillable version of the PDF, which can be used if you wish to e-mail the questionnaire out, or make the questionnaire available via your practice website. Patients can save their completed survey and e-mail it or print and post it back to their practice.
Although GPAQ asks for only one box to be selected for most questions, the fillable version will allow more than one box to be chosen with the exception only of questions for sex and age. The reason for this is that when using 'radio buttons' which permit only one choice, if you make a mistake and then wish to leave the question blank, there is no provision to uncheck all choices. But if a patient checks more than one box, enter the lower of the two values in the analysis spreadsheet.
Please tell us how useful you find the fillable PDF in your practice.
3. I would like to use GPAQ V3 on our website. How do I do this?
Your webmaster will need to put an introductory page with the fillable pdf loaded, and instructions for your patients to either print and return it to the surgery, or fill it and e-mail the questionnaire back to you for data entry. Consider password access, and setting up a dedicated e-mail address for replies. You will then need to organise your data entry and report.
For the results to be collated electronically via your website, you will need a database 'behind' it. This requires programming - plus the requisite time and skill.
Some of the licensed companies listed below may offer that service, which although it will incur a fee, may be cheaeper than commissioning a bespoke system.
4. What are the recommended numbers of completed questionnaires for GPAQ V3?
This varies with the question. Broadly, 50 responses remains a number which will give reasonable reliability. For some questions, numbers down to 30 will do. For others, eg nurse questions, fewer respondents will have answered those questions so higher numbers are needed. For more detailed information, please see the GPAQ V3 Manual (available soon) or E-mail us.
5. We always used the spreadsheet and linked Word report file. Where can I find these for the new version of GPAQ?
The spreadsheet and calculation files are still available for GPAQ V2. Links are on our home page. These analysis files were developed at Manchester University, under a grant which has come to an end: If you need help with analysis, please see details of the services offered by the licensed provider companies listed below.
6. I'm stuck, how can I get help with GPAQ?
Since the National Primary Care Research and Development Unit (NPCRDC) closed in Manchester last year, we no longer have a research post, with a person taking care of GPAQ. Analysing GPAQ V2 using our analysis tools requires familiarity with the Microsoft Office Suite. The GPAQ Administration does not have the facilities to offer help with this, nor are we able to adapt the analysis tools for variations to the GPAQ Questionnaire. Please contact the provider companies for help with analysis and reporting. This is unlikely to be a free service.
7. What about benchmarks?
Benchmarks for GPAQ V2 were calculated on the results from the latest complete year's surveys. The latest benchmarks produced were for 2005/6.
Groups of practices or PCTs carrying out surveys across several practices will be able to generate their own, local, current benchmarks for whichever version they are using. For the questions in V3 identical to questions in the ongoing government run GP Patient Survey, practices will be able to benchmark their results against the national survey. These can be found at www.gp-patient.co.uk
8. Brief details of services offered by the licensed provider companies are listed here. Please contact them directly if you need more information or wish to use their services:
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- CFEP E-mail Us
CFEP UK Surveys has been a licenced provider of GPAQ since 2005. We offer a fully supported survey service with a clear and easy to assimilate report provided at the end of the process. Click here for more information.
- CMI Publishing Ltd E-mail Us
Licensed to analyse GPAS & GPAQ surveys since 2002.
As well as our usual service for V2, we are now offering a low cost instant analysis service for V3. The detailed and summary reports give more information than reports from the old V2 DIY version. Moreover, they are ready to e-mail to you as soon as data entry is completed. There is also provision for additional summary of results for up to 10 additional questions.
You can see a sample detailed and summary reports, and download a template for your additional questions from our website.
We can arrange data entry, or practices can organise this themselves. A template for data entry is also available to download from our website. Click here for more information.
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- In Time Data E-mail Us
InTime are one of the UK’s largest GPAQ (General Practice Assessment Questionnaire) Survey operators and are one of the NPCRDC’s original licensees.
InTime have a proven track record as one the UKs leading suppliers of GPAQ surveys. Over the past 7 years we have worked hard to provide competitive prices, meaningful insights and a flexible approach to your patient surveys.
- Approved GPAQ supplier since 2004
- 95% of our clients return to us, not just once but year after year.
- More than 600,000 patients surveyed over the last 6 years
- Collect, analyse and produce reports within 2 weeks. Click here for more information.
- Patient Dynamics E-mail Us
PatientDynamics has been working with the GPAQ team for a number of years.
We provide the complete survey kit and service or just analysis and reporting.
We work with you to deliver the very best service we can and it is appreciated because our customers tell us in their feedback. Click here for more information.
- Snap Surveys E-mail Us
Snap Surveys offers two approaches to GPAQ using our newly developed product which generates online as well as paper surveys. Either run the survey yourself, printing questionnaires in-house and producing ready to run reports, or we can do it all for you as a service.
Our ready to run reports are easily accessible to a range of stakeholders (from patients to PCTs) and include an overall report for your practice and also separate reports for each GP in your practice. The reports are generated in PDF format which can easily be uploaded to your practice website. Click here for more information.
For administrative questions, please e-mail us at gpaqadmin@dsl.pipex.com.
For questions about analysis and reporting, please contact the provider companies listed above.