To wonder how people can not be registered with a gp

[User56666]

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.

I haven't been registered anywhere as an adult

I'm in my 40s

I have to do it now to get the vaccine though

DH still hasn't registered since we moved, we've been in this house 7 years! I've brought him forms twice and he hasn't bothered to fill them in so not much else I can do, it does worry me though.

never been registered with a gp, even as a kid it was just whoever and wherever available

@squeekums are you planning to have the vaccine?

I moved three and a half years ago, and only registered with a GP last summer, as I was due a smear. I hadn't seen a doctor for about 7 years until then (saw a practice nurse at former surgery for previous smear though). DS was registered as soon as we moved, but exH did the forms; had I done it, I imagine I would have signed myself up too.

My partner isn’t. He hasn’t been to a GP for 15years ....or a dentist (his teeth are perfect!) I got him some forms recently for the local Gp and they have remained on the kitchen table for over a month!

My brother technically isn't. They deregistered him as he didn't attend for 5 years.
This isn't standard practice is it? I haven't been to the GP's since 2007 but asssume I am still registered.
Should I panic?

When I went to the GP when I was pregnant with DS the doctor was chatting away and said do you remember the last time you were here? I said I didn't and he said it was over 10 years previous when I had come in complaining on spots on my face/back/chest. Prior to that was once when I had a verucca frozen off and the time before that my routine immunisations. I can see why it would be easy to be removed from the books or to have moved around a couple times and not needed a GP

I didn't bother when I was younger and moving around a lot, I only sorted myself out with a regular doctor when I was pregnant in my 30's.

Now I'm mid-40's, I think it's a good idea for everyone 40+ to be registered with a doctor and have every health check they're entitled to. Unfortunately, I keep hearing of people in their 50's and 60's (esp. men) who are going to the doctor feeling unwell and discovering they've got a condition that could be more effectively treated if caught earlier, such as prostate cancer. Someone I know is currently battling it, he hadn't been to the doctor for years so it was stage 3 before it was detected.

It should be a priority. I work for nhs 111. It causes problems when it’s in hours and we can’t refer them to their gp as they don’t have one. Why don’t they have a gp because they are never ill they say. It takes a while to be registered with a gp as well. It’s not a case of ill ring the surgery tomorrow and they’ll register me there and then.

DH and I thought we were registered but got dropped: gp died and they reassigned the patients, but only when they made their next appointment - if you didn't come for an appointment for years they just assumed we had moved on
Fair enough but when I did try to make an appointment their books were full. I was left trawling round trying to find a surgery that could register us.

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@squeekums are you planning to have the vaccine?[/quote]
australian here, so our roll out may be different, not based on gp records but our medicare system which pretty much everyone is on here, you dont need to have a gp to be on it.
but no im not
i have a needle phobia that needs sedation so its not practical to have it, no willing to sedate me drs

There were huge stretches when I wasn't registered with a GP. I rented and frequently moved, you had to do the form for registering in person which was hugely inconvenient since I worked during the day. It was never really something I needed to prioritise as I never needed the GP.

You can get deregistered too and they don't bother to tell you. When I moved to my current house I didn't change GP as I only moved down the road, but when I came to need an appointment I was told they'd deregistered the household. I think one of us had gone for a hospital appointment, said we'd moved house, it got back to the GP and they dumped us. But didn't write or phone to tell us.

@Pangur2 Same story with me. I’m a teacher so can’t just pop out for an hour like some jobs. Once I found one I was actually in the catchment area for, you could only register between 9-9:15 on the third Thursday of months that had a ‘e’ in them. 🙄

It was utterly ridiculous and impossible and I just didn’t bother.

When I left university and moved to London I wasn’t registered with a GP for about 6-7 years until I actually needed to see a doctor about something. Even now I see mine every few years or so as I’m lucky enough to be well most of the time.

You'd be surprised how many people get de registered for bad behaviour.

People can be deregistered for not attending more than 5 appointments that were booked for them.

Or for being abusive to staff.