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Original poster

To think its ludicrous a GP surgery can prevent vaccination by...

265 replies

dameofdilemma · 25/04/2021 10:57

Deregistering a patient?
Dp has been deregistered (without notice or consent) for the offence of being too healthy - he hasn’t made an appointment in years so they just deregistered him as a patient.

He now can’t book for the vaccine (via NHS, walk-in clinic or GP) until he’s registered again, which could apparently take weeks as there’s a backlog (of fuming deregistered patients).

The reality is many won’t bother continually phoning the surgery (and being put on hold) every day and the vaccine roll out will be slowed. down.

OP posts:
Bythemillpond · 25/04/2021 20:19

Bagamoyo1

I can assure you that no individual GP will choose to de-register someone who never attends. It must be done centrally by NHSE

I can assure you that if you had experience of our gp surgery they do and quite regularly.

Google reviews of our surgery are dire. Individual doctors and the receptionists are singled out for shouting at patients, talking over them, telling them if they don’t like it go elsewhere and putting the phone down on people. One particular doctor is called patronising. I find her extremely irritating that she will make things up that you have said.

I swear she either needs her hearing looked into or she has some sort of personality disorder.
You can ask her for some sleeping pills because you are having difficulty sleeping.

“I can’t give you 500 sleeping pills”

I once asked her for an allergy test as I have terrible eczema and patches clear up if I don’t eat certain things and if I do eat certain things I itch.

You can’t have an allergy test. What would that involve? Nothing like that exists

Then when you point out other people have had them she calls them liars or I have misunderstood what they were talking about.

So yes I do believe that the gps surgeries do get rid of patients without telling them and for all sorts of reasons.

FelicityBennett · 25/04/2021 21:06

NHS targets 'ghost' patients who don't go to the GP www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36828745

Would have been NHSEngland not GP that will have de registered him

Tistheseason17 · 25/04/2021 21:18

There is no such thing as an "annual health check"
When you join a surgery you can have a heath check.
If your practice has signed up to provide the extra service of "NHS Health Checks" you will be invited age 40 plus.
This service is no longer cost effective and only brings in the "worried well". Many surgeries no longer provide it as they don't have to.

MyDcAreMarvel · 26/04/2021 11:29

@Tistheseason17 There is no such thing as an "annual health check"
Let me rephrase that for you “In my GP practice there is no such thing as an annual health check”.

PegPeople · 26/04/2021 11:33

[quote MyDcAreMarvel]**@Tistheseason17* There is no such thing as an "annual health check"*
Let me rephrase that for you “In my GP practice there is no such thing as an annual health check”.[/quote]
I genuinely think yours must be the only GP surgery in the entire UK doing yearly health checks on every adult who is registered at their surgery.

swimlittlefishy · 26/04/2021 11:39

Surely there are thousands upon thousands of people who are not registered with GP's at all? How are they going to get vaccinated?

MyDcAreMarvel · 26/04/2021 11:49

@PegPeople I don’t know how many people actually take up the offer. I had no idea it was so unusual though. I didn’t grow up in the UK so have grown up with annual health checks, and then had the same and only UK GP for nearly 20 years.

Tistheseason17 · 26/04/2021 12:03

[quote MyDcAreMarvel]**@Tistheseason17* There is no such thing as an "annual health check"*
Let me rephrase that for you “In my GP practice there is no such thing as an annual health check”.[/quote]
@MyDcAreMarvel
No need to rephrase my words - I manage the contracts in a GP practice and can speak for myself.

The GMS/PMS core contracts do not have an annual health check as a contractual obligation - only new patient health checks if requested.

A practice may have signed up to provide the NHS Health Check service but this is for over 40s only and also not annual.

So if your practice is doing annual health checks for you this is not standard practice, is not contractual as is just something you are lucky to have.

MyDcAreMarvel · 26/04/2021 12:28

@Tistheseason17 you can only speak for the GP practice you manage the contracts for.
The annual check up is not something my practice offers myself as an individual, it’s offered to all adult patients.
Therefore to say “there is no such thing as an annual health check” is simply not true.
It saves money and saves lives , of it is indeed rare then that is shocking.

PegPeople · 26/04/2021 12:33

Therefore to say “there is no such thing as an annual health check” is simply not true.

But an annual health check in this country for all adults aged over 18 isn't a thing. Your one GP surgery may offer it for some reason but that doesn't make an NHS annual check a thing. The poster is correct when she says it doesn't exist within the NHS framework.

Spidey66 · 26/04/2021 12:51

I don't think there is an annual check up, though over 40s are usually encouraged to have BP and routine bloods done for cholesterol levels, blood glucose etc. Though this does appear to happen only if you go for something else, a kind of ''while you're here'' approach. Your GP may write once suggesting you attend for this but they're so snowed under they're probably happy not everyone takes them up on it.

Me and my husband are in our 50s. We're registered at different GPs, we were at the same one but that one wasn't good so I joined another, he's still at the terrible one (under special measures from CQC). I have had bloods etc done quite a bit, but mainly cos I've been having more medical issues (menopausal symptoms, currently waiting for gallbladder removal etc) plus im on thyroxine. He rarely goes to the GP for anything. In the past he was on statins and antihypertensives but he was supposed to go back for bloods etc and covid made it difficult. So currently he's not on any meds. His BP is actually not too bad (we have a monitor at home) it seems to have settled down since he stopped smoking but I've no idea about his cholesterol and I do think he's high risk for type 2 diabetes.

TurquoiseDragon · 26/04/2021 13:07

[quote MyDcAreMarvel]@Tistheseason17 you can only speak for the GP practice you manage the contracts for.
The annual check up is not something my practice offers myself as an individual, it’s offered to all adult patients.
Therefore to say “there is no such thing as an annual health check” is simply not true.
It saves money and saves lives , of it is indeed rare then that is shocking.[/quote]
That isn't what Tistheseason was saying.

Annual health checks for adults at your surgery are not standard across the board.

I work in public sector contracts, and GP contracts do not usually include offering annual health checks as a core item.

JackieTheFart · 26/04/2021 13:09

@MyDcAreMarvel

Well that was stupid he should have gone in for an annual check up.
I have never ever been for an annual check up in my entire life Confused. I have never been invited to either. Are we supposed to?!
WaitingForNormality · 26/04/2021 13:29

This same thing has happened to my DM. She hasn't need to go to the GP for a few years and earlier this year she contacted them to remark that it'd be quite some time since they'd asked her to come for a smear test and the GP had no record of her on their register. After digging they found out she'd been deregistered.

DM is in 60's so it was a bit of a scramble for her to re-register (our practice is bloody terrible and its become appalling during COVID times) and book in for smear tests, other screening tests she had missed in the previous year she'd been deregistered and also to get back on the books so she could access COVID vaccine.

It's pretty bloody poor if you ask me. Her GP did not call or send a single letter (she's at the same address she's lived at for 20 years, same phone number etc.). I know dentists are notorious for doing this too....

CloudPop · 26/04/2021 13:30

What happens to people's medical records when they get deregistered?

poppycat10 · 26/04/2021 13:33

@MyDcAreMarvel

Well that was stupid he should have gone in for an annual check up.
? Since when? I've not been near my GP for years other than smear tests.

My son hadn't been for about ten years.

It's completely ridiculous that on the one hand you can't get appointments with GPs and on the other they deregister you if you don't go. They also get money for every patient, so you'd think they'd want to keep the ones they don't see, as they don't cost them anything.

I got deregistered when I moved house. I hadn't told them I'd moved house, as we were still relatively local, but one of us had a hospital appointment (not sure who now) and presumably the records went back to the GP with the new address, and they deregistered us. They didn't bother to tell us though and when one of us eventually needed an appointment we then had to go through the rigmarole of reregistering. Later I had a scan and the records went back to the old GP and it took them six months to pass them on, I could have been dead in that time. Quite honestly GPs are a law unto themselves and their admin is atrocious.

However, I really thought that you could register for the vaccine with NHS number and postcode. What happens if you are not registered with an NHS GP - eg with Babylon Health?

poppycat10 · 26/04/2021 13:34

As for the annual check up there are 40+ check-ups but I don't think they are an annual thing.

poppycat10 · 26/04/2021 13:37

@amarya

Health care professional here. Can't tell you how many men I come across who don't understand moving house admin includes telling their GP their new address! This, and the fact men generally don't see their GP as often as women, means lots of men won't be receiving their invitation for the vaccine or will experience problems booking a slot.
It's not as if GPs do house visits anymore unless you twist their arm very painfully AND have a letter from the Queen AND a dispensation from the Pope. So "catchment" shouldn't be a thing and they don't really need your address.

And of course contact should by email and text, not letter.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 26/04/2021 13:38

@poppycat10

As for the annual check up there are 40+ check-ups but I don't think they are an annual thing.
I'm in my 50s and have never been invited for any sort of 'check up'. Specific screening tests for cancer, yes, but nothing else and certainly not annual.
myBumJuiceSmellsLikeRoses · 26/04/2021 13:53

I'm somewhat confused as on the news the other day, they were encouraging illegal immigrants to go and get vaccinated without fear of redress.
So how would that work if a normal UK resident can't get an appointment?

Tistheseason17 · 26/04/2021 13:57

@CloudPop

What happens to people's medical records when they get deregistered?
They are sent back to Primary Care Support England and will be transferred to the new practice when a patient registers. A lot is digital and the old practice can email a summary across for continuity of care for prescriptions etc
Tistheseason17 · 26/04/2021 14:01

@PegPeople
@TurquoiseDragon
Thank you Grin
I cannot imagine all these patients now calling for their expected annual health check, when it only applies 3 yearly for over 40s or new patients if they want one. We're a bit busy with Covid vacs right now!

Ireolu · 26/04/2021 14:12

It's standard practice that patients that have not been to the GP for several years are de-registered. Is it right? no, but in happens in all surgeries. It shdn't take weeks to re-register him though.

Bythemillpond · 26/04/2021 15:27

Dfil went to his drs when he was 69 so he could get signed off for his driving licence
They had a card with his details on but nothing else written on it.
They doctor asked him when had he last seen a doctor
When I was about 5 years old the doctor came round because I had Chickenpox.

Now he would be scrabbling round to find a doctors surgery who would take him or he would never have driven again.

Bythemillpond · 26/04/2021 15:28

It's standard practice that patients that have not been to the GP for several years are de-registered. Is it right? no, but in happens in all surgeries. It shdn't take weeks to re-register him though

Dh who is a regular at the doctors gets de registered at least a couple of times per year.

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