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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder how people can not be registered with a gp

43 replies

User56666 · 01/02/2021 11:28

I’ve a friend who when I was talking to her about gp’s said she wasn’t registered with. I always assumed everyone was.

OP posts:
AngelicInnocent · 01/02/2021 11:30

Well it's not automatic. If you don't bother then you aren't registered.

JellyfishandShells · 01/02/2021 11:31

Well, you have to actually do it at some point - unless it is the case that you were with a surgery as a child and have never moved and never needed to register somewhere else

MedusasBadHairDay · 01/02/2021 11:33

When I first moved out of my parents house I didn't get around to registering with a gp until over a year later - I had no health problems or regular prescriptions back then so no reason to need a gp.

user1493413286 · 01/02/2021 11:33

I’ve been guilty of only registering with one when I actually needed to see one; I wasn’t registered for about a year at one point as I’d moved and not needed to see one. When I moved more recently I registered my DD straight away as that’s obviously a responsible parent thing to do and I registered myself but DH wasn’t for ages as he did the same thing of only doing it when he needed to see someone

Finfintytint · 01/02/2021 11:33

DH is in the process of signing up to a new GP since our house move. I think it dawned on him that he might not get a vaccine otherwise.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 01/02/2021 11:34

My brother technically isn't. They deregistered him as he didn't attend for 5 years... Because he's had no health issues. But they will reregister him if he needs to. (I think they may have just done so as they know he's an unofficial carer for our parents)

lurker101 · 01/02/2021 11:35

A lot of young people that move around frequently aren’t registered or are registered with a GP that is far away from where they currently live. Most healthy young people don’t visit a GP for years, so it gets put down the priority list, especially if you have private healthcare with GPs via an app who can prescribe

Pangur2 · 01/02/2021 11:36

It took me a year to register with a new GP when I moved and it wasn’t for want of trying. You could only register between 9 and 12 Tues to Thurs and you had to do it in person. The couple of days I had off that I could do it the only lady who sorted it wasn’t in. Absolute shambles.

mootymoo · 01/02/2021 11:36

Well you actually have to bother to do it. Most British born people will technically be registered unless their previous surgery had deregistered them - but if you haven't given a current address you won't get any letters (plenty of younger people are registered at their parents address for instance).

Lalapurple · 01/02/2021 11:37

I have usually been registered with one somewhere- but often not with my up to date address because when I have moved I never got round to changing until I needed to actually see a GP.

Womencanlift · 01/02/2021 11:41

A lot of my colleagues don’t have a GP as we have access to a private GP/hospital via work so have not bothered registering with NHS. I have a long term condition so still have a NHS doctor

It has raised the question around vaccines as A) we are not in the office to get a vaccination (flu vaccinations are always done in the office) B) it is unclear if private GP’s will be offering them or if it will just be NHS

TimeIHadSomeTimeAlone · 01/02/2021 11:41

I wasn't registered with one from when I left home to go to uni at 18 until I was pregnant at 25. Never needed to go.

Wasn't registered with a dentist from 18 to 29, but that was down to a phobia Blush

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 01/02/2021 11:43

A cautionary warning though for those who haven't got round to it after moving. 3 weeks after we last moved, my younger needed antibiotics. As we were caught up in the mess of sorting schools, the GP registration was on the to do list. Calling round doctors trying to work out your catchment one with a child needing a doctor wasn't fun. And then they couldn't see her until the next day. And they bypassed part of the protocol because of the situation. (Part of the issue related to another surgery suddenly enforcing the boundary, leaving some people without a catchment GP.

melj1213 · 01/02/2021 11:46

It's fairly easy not to be registered - you dont register in the first place or deregister for some reason Hmm

We moved house to the other side of town, I went to our GP (which recently moved to a new "mega surgery" in the town centre that houses 8 surgeries in the same building) to update DD and my records. They said we were no longer in their catchment area and we would be deregistered automatically in 30 days.

I was annoyed as we now live closer to the "mega surgery" in town than we did to the original practice venue and I have been with the same surgery since I was a child (except for when I lived abroad) but I just went downstairs to another surgery and registered us with them. If it wasnt for the fact I have ongoing health issues and have been referred to a specialist that needs to be in communication with my GP for further referrals I probably wouldnt have registered elsewhere so quickly.

AnnaSW1 · 01/02/2021 11:47

My partner isn't. He's never bothered to do it as an adult. It's not done for you!

Chihuahuacat · 01/02/2021 11:53

Yes I went through a phase of not being registered - I’d been registered at my university gp and moved away.

The process to register at local ones was a nightmare - paper forms and being told I wasn’t in the catchment for the one actually on the road I lived on....

I haven’t needed to see a GP in about 9 years and I get my contraception from Lloyds online pharmacy. Registered recently exactly because I was worried about not getting the vaccine!

BarbaraofSeville · 01/02/2021 11:53

It's one of those things where you think 'everyone' is, likewise having a bank account, mobile phone, dentist, but a small percentage won't be, which in practice will be a few million people in the UK.

HugeAckmansWife · 01/02/2021 11:54

its a bit like school places - every year there are stories of parents turning up to their local school in Sept and not realising that they'd had to apply back in the previous Autumn. Somehow they just thought it was automatic. As others have said, assuming you were registered as a child and haven't moved far you probably just stay at the same one (though you should update your address), but once you move its down to you - I once asked my surgery to keep us when we moved out of the village because we still used the school and everything there and it was the most convenient one.

Feckingirritated · 01/02/2021 12:13

Registering with a GP is one of those aspects of moving that gets ignored because it’s so annoying to do. The last time I had to do it, it was paper forms, and they insisted on NHS numbers (all of our paperwork was in boxes still, so that was fun). Then when I returned the forms on the second attempt, I didn’t actually get registered because they lost them! That was great fun when I needed to make an appointment relatively urgently.

It also varies by place. One surgery wanted me to do a nurse check up as part of the registration process (told me it was essential. DH never got round to his, and was registered all the same). Nurse laughed at a question I asked about my BP, and then didn’t answer, which didn’t give me a lot of confidence. I wish it could just be standardised and done online, that would be the dream.

davidsSchitt · 01/02/2021 12:14

"every year there are stories of parents turning up to their local school in Sept and not realising that they'd had to apply back in the previous Autumn"

Really?! I've never heard of this and have several family members working in various schools

MapleMay11 · 01/02/2021 12:15

They prefer to use private primary care services.

LaceyBetty · 01/02/2021 12:17

I've moved a lot and tend to use private GPs on the rare times I see one. My kids are registered through.

Becles · 01/02/2021 12:21

I assume more people will register this year, if only to get the vaccine.

x2boys · 01/02/2021 12:26

When I was single I was still registered at the GP near my parents which was about 10 miles from where I lived ,I just never needed to see the GP ,once i got married and got pregnant it wasent practical to go to a GP,s so far away so I registered with the nearest one .

Daisysflowers · 01/02/2021 12:31

My brother was not registered with any doctors as he had moved. Wasn’t registered for just over 10 years only registered last year as he ended up in hospital and the hospital wanted him to be seen by his own doctor for routine checkups and wanted to forward notes to them after his op, so he had to register then otherwise he would still be unregistered.

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