Eight in 10 GP patients would like to be able to attend their doctor outside of normal hours, while a similar number would like a surgery design that ensures privacy at the reception desk, a new study has found.

A group of GPs in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon set out to explore what exactly patients want from a modern GP practice.

They surveyed almost 450 patients attending four different urban and rural practices. Two of the practices were run by a single doctor, while two had more than one doctor working on site.

When it came to appointment times, 80% wanted to be able to attend their GP outside of normal hours. Just 5% of patients felt that this was unimportant.

Some 86% said they would like to be informed of delays with their appointments and 77% said they would like a surgery design which ensured privacy at the reception desk.

When it came to the availability of technology, 76% of patients felt that it was important that their GP practice had credit card/laser payment facilities, while 67% would like their practice to have a website.

Some 50% felt that it was important to have a text reminder system for appointments and 36% would like to have the option of booking appointments online.

When it came to waiting area facilties, ‘a clean, well-heated surgery, with adequate car parking, wheelchair accessible bathrooms and a spacious waiting room was deemed important or extremely important by the majority of respondents'.

Having a modern building and up-to-date magazines in the waiting area were not deemed as important.

One respondent described a large waiting room as ‘very important'.

"Ill patients do not want to be jammed in with no room for buggies and not enough seats," the respondent said.

The study concluded that patients' expectations of GP surgeries ‘have kept in line with recent advances in technology'.

"Patients want to be able to browse the website of their general practice, make appointments online and attend for their appointments outside of normal hours. Debit card payment is now the norm for many people and increasingly patients expect this facility from their GP," the researchers said.

Details of these findings are published in Forum, the Journal of the Irish College of General Practitioners.