This is going to be long, sorry. I am a Dr (not a GP, but very good friends with several) and have some understanding of the system and how it works,
It is a frustrating situation for you and your son OP- YANBU to be frustrated. YABU to think the GPs are being unreasonable though.
The practice list has been closed to new patients. The only reason this can happen is if the practice cannot cope with the list size it has. This is most likely to be because at least one GP has left or retired or is going to be absent for a prolonged period and they cannot recruit new GP(s) to replace or cover for them. Or there may be some other reason why their population has suddenly jumped significantly- for example, another surgery closing and patients needing to register elsewhere. If the list was closed as they had too many patients, then even if a small number leave the practice due to relocation, or because they are sadly deceased, that just makes the oversubscription less significant/brings numbers down to sustainable levels. If that is the case, the surgery are hardly likely to then start taking on more patients and getting themselves right back into the situation they were in before closing the list, are they?
Therefore, it’s perfectly reasonable/understandable why the surgery won’t consider registering family members of current patients (I imagine exception might be new born babies or a patient taking on the care for a terminally ill/very frail elderly relative, for instance).
If they make exceptions (other than perhaps these very specific cases mentioned above), then it just opens a can of worms, sooner or later. Sooner in many cases, as someone works out that x recently moved into the area and they say they are at y surgery/were seen going into y surgery/someone said they go to Dr Z at y surgery (that you/friend/friend of a friend/your mum’s friend’s son etc could not get registered at) and it gets out. Then lots of people will have their own reasons why their case to be exceptional/more important than other peoples… and the complaints start. It is far more logical, and generally speaking, fairer to have a policy and stick to it unless individual circumstances are significant (such as a new born baby whose mother is registered there).
If there is another surgery within reasonable distance/that you are within the “catchment area” of and that surgery are open to new patients, it is not unreasonable to ask you to register there until this surgery are taking on new patients. You will still have access to a GP, even if not your preferred choice- which I recognise is far from ideal, but until the system changes and there are enough GP’s to staff all surgeries properly, this is where we are.
I think it’s important to understand that practice lists are not closed lightly and are done largely for patient safety- if they have too many patients then patient care will suffer. For example, access for patients (i.e. appointments available) becomes increasingly difficult as patient numbers per GP become very high- each clinician can only see so many patients per day, but there are more patients needing appointments. The clinical and admin workload (both face to faced/telephone consults, but also repeat/acute prescription, chronic disease monitoring, managing/actioning hospital letters/medication requests/test results, as well as the day to day running of the practice) becomes unmanageable. So mistakes creep in/things get missed- it’s simply unsafe to work beyond a certain patient:GP ratio. Most people will only tolerate that so long before leaving or burning out. Burnt out Dr’s are not good for patients, nor for themselves or their families. At the moment their is such a shortage of GPs nationally that if a GP leaves one job will find work elsewhere either as partners, salaried or working as a locum.
Practices which have a reputation for being chronically understaffed/ having too many patients find it very difficult to recruit new GP’s (and practice nurses, for that matter) when someone leaves or retires. It then becomes a vicious cycle- few people want to work where they know things are tough/unsafe and so things get worse. More and more practices are being handed back to healthboards to run- mostly this is not working out well (in our area at least) as they end up being staffed largely by locum GPs- if they can get them (and that’s not guaranteed- locums can really pick and chose in some areas). However competent or nice a locum is they usually don’t know the patients, often don’t know the area well, and may not be back for some time (if at all), so follow up and continuity of care is hard.
I think it is important to know that GP practices have to give notice of the intention to close their list (not take on new patients) and give reasons justifying this intention/evidence back that up. They cannot just shut the list on a whim or because they feel “ a bit too busy”- it would be in breach of their General Medical Services contract. In addition the health board would have to accept their reasonings and it is kept under review. The fact the surgery is able to continue to hold the list closed strongly suggests to me they have an longstanding problem- i think this is most likely too high a patient:GP ratio- and the list will remain closed until that problem is resolved.