Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think this GP list validation is OTT?

33 replies

MsGreying · 10/08/2026 14:57

The GP Practice have sent out a message via the app (biometrically connected to me) to make sure that I am a person and not a ghost.

https://quaysidemedicalpractice.co.uk/ghost

What’s happening?
The NHS is reviewing GP registers to remove people who have moved away or can no longer be contacted. It’s a routine process called list validation (sometimes called “list cleansing”).

The problem: it’s moving quickly, and patients who still live locally and still want to be registered are sometimes being removed — often simply because they didn’t reply to a letter they thought was junk.

Optics: You've died, you might not be a ghost cos most people don't believe in them. Does the NHS believe in Ghosts?

Anyone with issues leading to them being unable to manage their own affairs may well fall foul of this and be unlisted!

Sending out 68M plus letters sounds like an interesting challenge for any organisation.

This feels insane. Who thought this up?

Quayside Medical Practice

https://quaysidemedicalpractice.co.uk/ghost

OP posts:
hahabahbag · 10/08/2026 15:37

My gp sends out a text via the nhs app if you have had no contact for 2 years. If no reply after 1 month then they send a letter to your registered address - I know this because my dd moved away and we received a letter (addressed to her) stating the above last week. I phoned the drs explained she lived overseas now and they said they would keep her on the books for when she returns here, which they didn’t have to do.

Musicaltheatremum · 10/08/2026 15:32

What will happen. The practice gets a list from the health board of patients they(the health board)think are no longer in the area so they shouldn't be paying for them. We had a list of 500 patients once. We had to go through every one of them to see if they were still registered and if they were we had to let the health board know this so they didn't remove them. If we got no reply then the health board would remove them very quickly so if you then came in for something after a couple of years the practice would not have you still registered. We did this pre computerisation so it was hard work.
If you were on repeat medication or coming in frequently then that's easy but the health boards don't take our word for it they need proof.

So it will be a list initiated by the health board/ authority which the practice then act on. Not done by the practice for fun.

HobnobsChoice · 10/08/2026 15:32

MsGreying · 10/08/2026 15:19

There's so many better ways they could do this. If it's a real problem that they need to solve. Maybe transient unstable communities cause these issues; maybe the proliferation of HMO has a bad effect for not only communities but the NHS data.

They could:

  1. Ask when you book an appointment by phone. Can't often as people fill forms in to get triaged for appointments.
  2. Ask when you attend an appointment. Can't because logging in is automated unless the machine is broke, but the GP/PA/N/etc could confirm.
  3. Ask when you order a prescription on the app. can't without twiddling with the app.
  4. Ask on the app to confirm. Why didn't they build this in if it's a problem?

Using a letter or a text is a terrible idea - it's outside the 'environment' that people use. And is therefore a wide open to fraud and spam from this point onwards.

There's actually no address check on a text either.

If they say "contact us" if you've been removed, then chances are you'll find out when you try to contact the GP who you believed you were registered at.

A significant number of the "ghost entries" will be people who aren't booking appointments or using the app or having regular prescriptions so none of those methods of confirmation will work to remove the ghosts. If people have left the UK then there is no onward transfer of records so you could have a family who emigrated to Australia who won't have the NHS app, won't be ordering prescriptions, won't be attending appointment but are still registered with the GP and taking slots.
My ex partner moved to Manchester from Durham in 2000 but didn't ever register with a GP in Manchester until 2003 after he was discharged from hospital following a heart attack. He hadn't needed any GP appointments and wasn't on medication then

Original poster
MsGreying · 10/08/2026 15:19

There's so many better ways they could do this. If it's a real problem that they need to solve. Maybe transient unstable communities cause these issues; maybe the proliferation of HMO has a bad effect for not only communities but the NHS data.

They could:

  1. Ask when you book an appointment by phone. Can't often as people fill forms in to get triaged for appointments.
  2. Ask when you attend an appointment. Can't because logging in is automated unless the machine is broke, but the GP/PA/N/etc could confirm.
  3. Ask when you order a prescription on the app. can't without twiddling with the app.
  4. Ask on the app to confirm. Why didn't they build this in if it's a problem?

Using a letter or a text is a terrible idea - it's outside the 'environment' that people use. And is therefore a wide open to fraud and spam from this point onwards.

There's actually no address check on a text either.

If they say "contact us" if you've been removed, then chances are you'll find out when you try to contact the GP who you believed you were registered at.

OP posts:
LiliesOnTheWater · 10/08/2026 15:18

I doubt they'll be sending out 68M letters, either. They'll send them out to people that they haven't had contact with for some number of years or who haven't replied to screenings or where they have some other reason to believe that they might not still be in the area/want to be on the list etc. to check before they remove them.

ColdAsAWitches · 10/08/2026 15:10

It's a common phrase for outdated entries on a list. It isn't a term that's only used by the NHS and it certainly doesn't imply that they believe in ghosts! FFS."This feels insane" is a massive overreaction, they're just trying to clean up their lists. Can't to right for doing wrong with some people.

Rizzz · 10/08/2026 15:02

It says if you think you may have been removed in error, to get in touch 🤷‍♂️

DewDropsAndCobWebs · 10/08/2026 15:00

They have to do something, people do move away without saying, or die, or switch doctors.
I am sure this wasn't an easy thing to do, so they probably looked at other options first.
No system is perfect, but something has to be done.
If a dr stops taking new patients because they mistakenly think they have a full load, someone else misses out.