HEALTHWATCH Surrey is teaming up with eight GP practices across the county to help raise awareness of their online services, as part of a national campaign.

A report by the NHS watchdog highlighted low awareness of online GP services, such as appointment booking, repeat prescriptions and patient access to parts of their GP record.

During Get Online Week (October 2-8), watchdog volunteers will be visiting the surgeries to gather views on how the current system is working.

They will be at Haslemere Health Centre from 11am-1pm on October 3.

Healthwatch Surrey operations manager Lisa Sian said: “When we asked people about online GP services, many said they didn’t know about them or hadn’t used them, but the people that did use them said that they worked well.

“We hope raising awareness of online GP services will help people to have more flexible access to appointments, prescriptions and test results, particularly for those who may find it difficult to communicate over the phone or in a busy surgery.

“Even if you haven’t used online GP services, we want to hear from you. This will help us and decision-makers understand what more could be done to make it easier to use these services in the future.”

Residents can share their views via an online survey at www.healthwatch surrey.co.uk or call 0303 303 0023 to discuss them.