Moving outside GP catchment area?

ericpode

Resurrecting this thread for the benefit of others who (like me) found it when they were searching for implications of moving outside their GP area.

From January 2015 there will be a change to GP contracts that mean you can register with a GP practice when your home is outside the practice area (or you can stay with them if you move outside the area). This was mentioned earlier in this thread in 2012 but it never actually happened. Well from Jan 2015 it will now be a reality (ish).

Unfortunately, it is voluntary so the surgery can still refuse you, so there is still no guarantee that they will accept you (or let you stay).

More here:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/doctors/Pages/patient-choice-GP-practices.aspx

FBaby

And I expect most sugeries will refuse. The main reason is that GPs are not keen to travel miles for home visits. You can say that you would never call, show that you never have, they don't know how one's circumstances can change and will prefer not to take the chance.

Those practices that might accept are those when patients are just outside of the catchment area, and somehow not already over-suscribed.