Which GP practice in St. Helens has the highest grade?

Kenneth Macrae Med Centre has the highest Practice Grade in St. Helens, 94.8 out of 100. Practices next to each other in the list are often so close that another year's answers could swap them.

How many GP practices are there in St. Helens?

28 open GP practices that you can register with, 27 of them with a Practice Grade.

How soon do practices in St. Helens see patients?

In the latest month 91.8% of appointments at practices in St. Helens took place within two weeks of booking, against 87.7% in England.

How do I change GP practice in St. Helens?

It is free, and you do not have to tell your current practice. Most practices let you register online or in the NHS App.

Best GP practices in St. Helens 2026

28 GP practices in St. Helens (North West), ranked by the Practice Grade. The grade weighs what patients say in the 2026 GP Patient Survey and how soon appointments take place. Practices with too few answers have no grade.

Kenneth Macrae Med Centre has the highest Practice Grade in St. Helens, 94.8 out of 100. St. Helens as a whole: 82.3, 5.1 points above the England average.

How the Practice Grade works

Updated with GP Patient Survey (2026 survey) and Appointments in General Practice (August 2026)

Compare the four best in St. Helens

GP practices in St. Helens

Sorted by the Practice Grade, highest first

Practice	Practice Grade	Response rate	Survey answers
1Kenneth Macrae Med CentreTop-rated in St. Helens 2026Top 10% in England 2026	94.8	39.6%	113
2Rainford Health CentreTop 10% in England 2026	94.3	34.3%	100
3Hall Street Medical CentreTop 10% in England 2026	92.0	24.0%	91
4Windermere Medical CentreTop 10% in England 2026	91.4	18.3%	107
5Parkfield SurgeryTop 10% in England 2026	90.9	27.2%	103
6Billinge Medical PracticeTop 10% in England 2026	89.7	32.5%	122
7Lingholme Health CentreTop 10% in England 2026	89.1	27.0%	98
8Rainhill Village SurgeryTop 10% in England 2026	88.9	31.4%	116
9Ormskirk House Surgery	88.0	27.0%	113
10Mill Street Medical Ctr.	87.4	29.6%	119
11Newholme Surgery	86.3	23.9%	92
12Bethany Medical Centre	86.2	29.5%	107
13Longton Medical Centre	83.2	26.6%	100
14Eccleston Medical Centre	82.3	27.1%	113
15Phoenix Medical Centre	82.0	22.4%	114
16Garswood Surgery	80.5	36.1%	114
17Marshalls Cross Medical Centre	79.9	23.4%	105
17The Spinney Medical Ctr.	79.9	26.6%	112
19Central Surgery	78.8	28.3%	109
20Patterdale Lodge Med Ctre	78.5	24.3%	105
21Rainbow Medical Centre	76.7	26.4%	120
22Berrymead Family Med.ctr.	75.1	22.6%	110
23Four Acre Health Centre	73.0	23.1%	101
24Atlas Medical Practice	71.7	22.4%	119
24Vista Road Surgery	71.7	27.2%	103
26Newton Practice	69.5	16.9%	92
27Modality St Helens	69.0	24.6%	110
The Bowery Medical Centre	72.8	17.1%	84

Practices with exactly the same grade share a place and are listed A to Z. Practices next to each other are often so close that another year could swap them.

The Practice Grade is on a scale of 0 to 100. The response rate and the number of survey answers show how large the base is: more answers give a surer grade. The trend column shows overall experience (the share of patients who describe the practice as good), 2024–2026, from the GP Patient Survey (question 32). It is the survey part of the Practice Grade, not the grade itself. Practices with fewer than 3 yearly results are shown without a curve.

The practices without a place follow the ranked ones, A to Z, with their figures: those with too few survey answers, those that serve one group of patients, and those the grade cannot place clearly.

Flu vaccination in St. Helens, winter 2025 to 2026

73.2% of patients aged 65 and over registered with GP practices in St. Helens had a flu vaccine between 1 September 2025 and 28 February 2026 (31,314 of 42,761). England: 74.5%.

Who	St. Helens	England
Aged 65 and over31,314 of 42,761	73.2%	74.5%
Under 65 in a clinical risk group13,473 of 33,910	39.7%	40.6%
Pregnant women623 of 1,951	31.9%	38.4%
Children aged 2703 of 1,952	36.0%	43.5%
Children aged 3869 of 2,049	42.4%	44.8%

The counts follow the GP practice, not where people live. They include vaccinations given in GP practices, pharmacies and other places that are recorded in the GP record. 99.3% of practices sent data. UKHSA says the number counted as pregnant may be too high, so uptake among pregnant women is probably understated.

This card shows flu only. We have not found local authority figures for last winter’s COVID-19 vaccination from UKHSA.

Source: UK Health Security Agency, Seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in GP patients: winter season 2025 to 2026 (final data, published 28 May 2026). Open Government Licence v3.0.

Appointments within two weeks in St. Helens, August 2026

91.8% of the 46,189 appointments at 28 practices in St. Helens took place within two weeks of booking. England: 87.7%.

Source: NHS England, Appointments in General Practice. This is the appointments half of the grade’s access part.

Talking therapies for the NHS area covering St. Helens, August 2026

About 245 people finished a course of NHS Talking Therapies in the NHS area that covers St. Helens in August 2026. Of them, 100% started treatment within 6 weeks of referral and 100% within 18 weeks. The national standards are 75% and 95%.

St. Helens is covered by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB (sub-ICB 01X).

England: 83.4% started within 6 weeks and 97.5% within 18 weeks (51,269 people finished a course in August 2026).

These figures are for the NHS area that commissions the service, not for St. Helens and not for any GP practice. Most people refer themselves, so they say nothing about the quality of a practice.

Only people who finished a course in the month are counted, so people still waiting are not. Counts are rounded to the nearest 5, rates to the nearest whole per cent, and NHS England hides numbers under 5. One month can move by several points.

Source: NHS England Digital, NHS Talking Therapies Monthly Statistics (August 2026, published 8 October 2026), Open Government Licence. Areas are matched to NHS areas with the Office for National Statistics lookup from neighbourhoods to sub-ICBs and local authorities (April 2026).

Loading the map

Clearly above the England average
Graded
Not graded

Each practice is placed at the centre of its postcode, not at its building, so practices that share a postcode share a point. Click a point to see every practice there.

64 GP practices within 10 km, the nearest 8 shown.

Within reach of St. Helens

64 GP practices within 10 km, the nearest 8 shown.

The highest Practice Grade within 10 km is Zaman in Wigan, 96.9, 9.8 km away.

Distance as the crow flies from the middle of the practices in St. Helens. A practice in another area may still cover your address: check its boundary before you register.

Common questions

Which GP practice in St. Helens has the highest grade?: Kenneth Macrae Med Centre has the highest Practice Grade in St. Helens, 94.8 out of 100. Practices next to each other in the list are often so close that another year's answers could swap them. How the grade works
How many GP practices are there in St. Helens?: 28 open GP practices that you can register with, 27 of them with a Practice Grade.
How soon do practices in St. Helens see patients?: In the latest month 91.8% of appointments at practices in St. Helens took place within two weeks of booking, against 87.7% in England.
How do I change GP practice in St. Helens?: It is free, and you do not have to tell your current practice. Most practices let you register online or in the NHS App. Guide: changing GP practice

About St. Helens

Background

Background on St. Helens as context for the practices above. Not part of the Practice Grade.

Residents: 188,861
Aged 65 and over: 20.6%
Aged 80 and over: 5.5%

Deprivation, income and life expectancy

Measure	St. Helens	England
Deprivation score (Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025)2025	29.0	21.8
Children under 16 in relative low income families2024/25, likely range 20.9 to 22.1	21.5%	19.8%
Life expectancy at birth, men2022 to 2024, likely range 77.0 to 78.0	77.5 years	79.5 years
Life expectancy at birth, women2022 to 2024, likely range 80.6 to 81.5	81.0 years	83.3 years

Source: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Fingertips: residents and ages 2024 (Office for National Statistics), deprivation 2025 (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), children in low income families 2024/25 (Department for Work and Pensions), life expectancy 2022 to 2024 (Office for National Statistics). Open Government Licence v3.0.

Older people in St. Helens

Background

Background on people aged 65 and over in St. Helens, with England beside it. No figure here says an area is doing better or worse. Not part of the Practice Grade.

Hospital care and dementia

Measure	St. Helens	England
Emergency hospital admissions for falls, per 100,000 people aged 65 and over2024/25, age-standardised, likely range 2,061 to 2,362	2,208	1,958
Hip fractures, per 100,000 people aged 65 and over2024/25, age-standardised, likely range 517 to 674	592	536
Estimated dementia diagnosis rate, people aged 65 and over2026, as at 31 March, likely range 59.4 to 73.2	66.8%	66.3%

The hospital figures are age-standardised, so an older population does not raise them. Since 2022/23 some hospital trusts report same-day emergency care in another dataset, which can lower the admissions counted.

The dementia rate is the number of people with a recorded diagnosis out of the number estimated to have dementia. It is counted by where the practice is, not where patients live.

Care homes

Measure	St. Helens	England
Care home beds per 100 people aged 75 and over2025	7.3	8.3

Beds are counted where the home is, not where its residents come from, and people under 75 also live in care homes.

Life expectancy at 65

Measure	St. Helens	England
Life expectancy at 65, men2022 to 2024, likely range 17.7 to 18.3	18.0 years	18.9 years
Life expectancy at 65, women2022 to 2024, likely range 19.6 to 20.3	20.0 years	21.4 years

Source: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Fingertips: hospital admissions 2024/25 (NHS England), dementia diagnosis 2026 (as at 31 March) (NHS England), care home beds 2025 (Care Quality Commission), life expectancy 2022 to 2024 (Office for National Statistics). Open Government Licence v3.0.