Moving outside GP catchment area?

claire16c

When I asked for a change of address form the receptionist at mine said where have you moved? you might not be able to come here anymore. She was quite rude about it really! We only moved round the corner anyway but I was thinking well she wouldnt have known if I hadnt asked for the form anyway.. Problem is you have to tell them for letters etc.

CompBunny

I had a fabulous doctor and have a chronic health condition - I would have loved to stay at the surgery and my GP would have been happy to keep me. But my new address was 15miles away so he said it was a bit far to allow really If I was just outside the boundary he said he would have bent the rules a bit, but unfortunately I had to move practices.

Honesty is definately the best policy, if you are happy with your GP say you are very happy and would like to stay and is there any way that is possible!

Ames

Thanks, I'd rather lower my standards for the house I want than lose my GP. I'll just have to keep an eye on the property market. The GP does have a huge catchment area at least.

Pennylane

A couple of years ago the Govt were supposed to be changing the rules for surgeries and making them more like dentists - you choose where you go. I watched that with interest and then it died a death.

It's OK if you live in an area where there are several surgeries to choose from but if you live in a rural area (like mine) there is often just one surgery covering a large area and if you don't like them .... tough!

LEAR1

Found this thread when I was doing a google search on my q - it's a related point:

I would like to know if I have any grounds to contest a surgery declining to register me as a new patient based on their assessment that I fall outside their catchment area.

By way of background, I have recently moved to the area (SE London). The surgery came up on the NHS GP list for practices in my area (based on a postcode search on the NHS site). Granted they aren't the closest, but they're only 0.8 miles away, which I certainly don't consider far. Further, based on feedback on the site, they are a clear leader in the nearby area for level of service, availability of appointments etc - the other (slightly closer practices) come in with woeful feedback and score ratings. Hence my particular attraction to this surgery.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks

System

My GP surgery is almost a mile away from where I live, as the crow flies. There is also another doctors surgery which is slightly closer to me, about three-quarters of a mile away, but I don't fall within the catchment area of the closer one! I think sometimes they use things like postcode boundaries as well as actual physical distance.

Maybe being London the 'good' surgery already has a lot of patients on their books and hence are more restrictive in how many new patients they can take on? I do not know how flexible GP surgeries can be with regard to accepting new patients who don't fall within their catchment area, unfortunately. It might be worth asking the practice manager, if you haven't already?

pmduk

It might also be worth talking to the PCT asking their attitude on the matter.

Fire_Fox

LEAR1 wrote: »

Found this thread when I was doing a google search on my q - it's a related point:

I would like to know if I have any grounds to contest a surgery declining to register me as a new patient based on their assessment that I fall outside their catchment area.

By way of background, I have recently moved to the area (SE London). The surgery came up on the NHS GP list for practices in my area (based on a postcode search on the NHS site). Granted they aren't the closest, but they're only 0.8 miles away, which I certainly don't consider far. Further, based on feedback on the site, they are a clear leader in the nearby area for level of service, availability of appointments etc - the other (slightly closer practices) come in with woeful feedback and score ratings. Hence my particular attraction to this surgery.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Is the GP surgery in the same Primary Care Trust as your home address? Might be you are on a boundary line? Or maybe they are just oversubscribed so have a very small catchment area, that is more likely if they are a small practice and/ or in a built up or heavily populated area (eg. high rise flats, large extended families).

"A practice cannot refuse you unless it has reasonable grounds for doing so. These must not relate to race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability, or a medical condition. It must also give you reasons for its decision in writing. However, you may be refused if you are living outside the practice’s catchment area or the practice is generally not accepting new patients at the time because its list is closed. Find out if your local GP practice is currently accepting new patients."
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/doctors/Pages/NHSGPs.aspx

jenniewb

I hope the OP got things sorted seeing as this was posted originally a while back

If anyone else is in a similar position, if you contact your PCT they will send you a list of all the GP practices in the area you are moving to. If your lucky you'll be able to google for ratings or feedback, if you have a social worker or similar they aren't supposed to, but may be able to give a general opinion though many wont as a matter of abiding by the rules!

I moved to an area a few years ago where there was no local GP who would accept me, the PCT forced a GP from a different authority to take me on as I was in their area but just in a different borough (I was on the edge of my own borough) until then I'd not been able to find a single GP to accept me so the PCT can carry some weight if you did want to push for anything and believe you have a case, the PCT seem to have quite a bit of power.

LEAR1

Thank you all. I will try both routes - PCT and practice manager - and see if my persuasive skills are worth any weight!

Incidentally, the practice is accepting new patients, so it's not for that reason that I was declined. Their response was simply:

'Unfortunately you do notfall within our registration catchment area; you will need to seek a GP closerto where you live.'