Shropshire GP hits out at move to remove patients who do not visit surgery for five years
Plans to axe patients from their doctor's surgery if they do not visit for five years have come under fire from a Shropshire GP.
Under the initiative, which is being rolled out across England, those who have not seen their GP for five years will be sent two letters asking them to respond.
If they cannot be contacted to say they still wish to be registered with their doctor, they will be removed from the practice list.
But Dr Mary McCarthy, who works at Belvidere Medical Practice in Shrewsbury, said there were two reasons for disliking the idea.
"First, patients may be moved off a GP's list and may not be aware of it. Post doesn't always arrive correctly and not all patients read the mail every day," she said.
"At the start of the NHS one of the cardinal points was the right of every patient to be registered with a GP.
"Keeping healthy and not going to see a GP should not be a trigger for removal.
"You never know when you may need a doctor and finding out that you have to re-register is something that patients may blame practices for.
"Second, the private company tasked with this work, Capita, is currently in charge of moving patient records.
"The company's performance in this field leaves much to be desired with patients' addresses not updated, records arriving weeks late and practices having to deal with the chaos caused by this process.
"The British Medical Association has expressed its concerns about this project."
GPs are paid for every patient on their list – on average, they receive funding of about £136 per registered patient.
NHS England has employed private company Capita to lead the drive – known as "list cleansing" – to cut costs to the NHS and ensure accuracy over which patients use which services.
The idea is to find out whether patients no longer require services or have moved house, left the country or died.
But critics have warned that "ghost patients" are being removed inappropriately.
Dr Robert Morley, from the BMA, said: "Patients have a right to be registered unless they move or register elsewhere, even if they don't need to or choose not to access services.
"NHS England should abandon this exercise which will have the inevitable consequences of disruption for patients and a reduction of core funding disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable practices."
An NHS England spokeswoman said: "The National Audit Office and House of Commons Public Accounts Committee have all drawn attention to the need to ensure accurate patient lists, and for proper stewardship of public funds."
She said any patient who has their registration cancelled would need to be re-registered on contacting their surgery.
