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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a GP surgery shouldn’t have patients who are out of catchment

58 replies

Angryparent78 · 08/07/2021 21:11

If they are saying they can’t register patients who do live in the catchment. Just seen a post from a woman who lives at least four miles away from this particular surgery definitely isn’t in the catchment as stated by herself but has been told she can stay as long as I quote “numbers don’t get too high” now surely if they can’t take patients in the catchment numbers are already high and catchment patients should be their priority.

OP posts:
NumberTheory · 08/07/2021 21:32

I think it's bizarre that GP surgeries have catchments.

RoseAndGeranium · 08/07/2021 21:36

Depends why the out-of-catchment patients are permitted to stay on. I'm now out of catchment for my GP surgery because (i) none of the three closest surgeries to my new home are accepting new patients, and (ii) the only surgery that I'm in catchment for that is accepting new patients cannot be reached by public transport, and I can't drive at the moment. (My old surgery can be reached by public transport, ironically, even though it's further away.) Continuity of care for a specific condition can also be a valid reason.

Killahangilion · 08/07/2021 21:37

Sorry, I’m not clear from your OP.

Do you mean the woman is already registered there and they’re only now having to turn away new patients?

I live rurally and know my local small surgery (6 miles from me) is full and is referring new patients to the newly built medical facility about ten miles away in the next (much bigger) town.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 08/07/2021 21:42

I live (rurally) 10 miles away from my GP surgery. It's the nearest one. FOD Biscuit

PaperMonster · 08/07/2021 21:42

I’m now out of the catchment area for the GP’s surgery I’ve been with for nearly 20 years!! It’s the nearest one to me at five miles away. The next one after that is 10 miles away!

Theunamedcat · 08/07/2021 21:43

They are only supposed to take patients they can get to in a reasonable amount of time for example i lived in town A moved to town B registered at a new doctors in town B they saw on my records I had come from A and asked how long it took to drive between the towns (its 45 minutes) turns out someone wanted to register from town A dr said that was too long if they ever needed to do a home visit as the doctor would be "away" too long and not seeing patients

lastqueenofscotland · 08/07/2021 21:43

Yes YABVU
People may for reasons beyond their control beed to move very often. How do you deal with that

Menora · 08/07/2021 21:48

I live about 4 miles away but I am in catchment as rural. Also get dispensary medication

FYI the reason they often let patients stay is to keep a good number of registrations. A lot of people move and never reregister or give address

Tealightsandd · 08/07/2021 21:49

She might have complex issues that require continuity of care.

Separately, lots of people register near to where they work instead of their home address.

Wineandroses3 · 08/07/2021 21:50

Maybe this particular patient was already registered as an “out of area” patient before the practice decided to close their list. GP practices can close their patient list if they have the permission of the local CCG and usually have to provide reasons why, it’s usually only on a temporary basis. GP practices can also accept “out of area” patients on a discretionary basis - they don’t have to do this, but some of them do, but normally the out of area patient has to agree that the GP will not be able to offer them home visits because the patient lives too far away. Sometimes a practice will refuse to register a patient who is out of area if they have a complicated medical history as it’s deemed as not in their (the patients) best interest as it’s likely that they may need home visit in the future, it’s not fair to expect a GP to travel way outside the catchment area for a home visit because of the time element and the knock on affect that may have on other patients.

Canigooutyet · 08/07/2021 21:51

Completely forgot about this. I live in an area that has a huge number of commuters working here. Education and health teamed up because locals were raising concerns that there was no spaces, yet in paper there was.
Council tax bills were then requested from all parents and patients. We went from an area with waiting lists for alsorts, to locals could access these. A lot of people where using work address to get places. It's also why some areas do need catchment areas to prevent situations like this arise. Those who couldn't register had to rely on things like emergency dental services and walk in clinics.

It's also hard to tailor services for the needs of the local people if they cannot access services to begin with.

Iggly · 08/07/2021 21:51

I’m with a GP out of catchment because when we moved here, no GPs could take us. We had to write to NHS England who basically allocated us a GP.

I blame the Tories for gutting the nhs.

FedNlanders · 08/07/2021 21:52

I am out of catchment. I moved and applied t9 stay with same GP and it was accepted.

ComtesseDeSpair · 08/07/2021 21:52

Catchments used to be simply because of proximity for being able to do home visits. Now those are as rare as hens’ teeth and the structure for other types of hone visiting such as maternity, health visiting and geriatrics works differently, catchments make less sense.

I just never told my previous GP that I moved house. It’s a bit of a ball ache if I ever do have to attend an appointment (which I haven’t had to in four years) but more of a ball ache to have to re-register closer to home.

Neondisco · 08/07/2021 21:59

So is the surgery not taking patients then?

You don't know her health issues. So it's none of your buisness. I can imagine many people with ongoing health issues would massively benefit from ongoing care from their GP.

Original poster
Angryparent78 · 08/07/2021 22:01

The gp surgery are refusing to re register my vulnerable dd who’s back from university to live with us. I think you have to accept if you move out of area you move GP. We had to move from our amazing GP practice in another town because we moved due to overcrowding so yes people may move due to no fault of their own but you still should accept you have to move as me and my family did.

OP posts:
StrawberryDelight10 · 08/07/2021 22:01

Hmm I get where you're coming from but

I went through a bit of a mental health scare years and years ago when I was at uni and was obviously forced to move out of halls after a year and I was worried about having to move GPs when I'd found one who was understanding and was helping me get better.

I asked the GP about it (who was also head of the practice) and he said absolutely I can stay with that GP surgery when I move out of catchment. He said it would be too disruptive to my care to make me switch now, and he informed the receptionists they weren't to remove me from their lists.

I am so thankful he did that to this day because it really was the correct decision for my health. I stayed with that GP until I left uni.

So I believe there are valid reasons to keep someone with the same GP even after they move out of catchment. But I agree if there's no particular reason minus someone likes their GP surgery then they should switch to a new one when they move, which I have done a number of times since as I've moved a few times.

Original poster
Angryparent78 · 08/07/2021 22:03

There a number of GP near this woman. She posted and I again quote “they said I could stay if the number didn’t get too high” clearly with a closed list they are way too high. So why is she more important then people in a catchment?

OP posts:
Welshmaenad · 08/07/2021 22:04

I was moved to an out of catchment surgery as part of a complaint against my former GP. It's not even the next nearest one but was suggested by the LHB due to my complex medical history as they're renowned for being lovely. My children moved with me.

This woman might have a good reason for needing to remain with the surgery.

Original poster
Angryparent78 · 08/07/2021 22:04

My old GP still removed my family off the list despite at the time dd being in mental health treatment and having just been discharged from an inpatient unit. Which meant her care transferred to a completely different team.

OP posts:
StrawberryDelight10 · 08/07/2021 22:07

Not sure I worded that clearly so I'll try again.

If it will be detrimental to someone's health to move GPs then I think it's ok to stay with that surgery if out of catchment.

For any other reason, then you should move GP surgeries when out of catchment.

Original poster
Angryparent78 · 08/07/2021 22:08

I do understand that but it could be argued my dd has a good reason to want to be registered with them. They won’t register her

OP posts:
StrawberryDelight10 · 08/07/2021 22:08

@Angryparent78

That's horrible that your DD went through that, and in this instance I think it was wrong that they forced her out of the surgery because she was out of catchment. The fact they didn't do that to me really helped me. I'm sorry you and your family have had to go through that.

Original poster
Angryparent78 · 08/07/2021 22:09

Thank you I’m glad you got the support you needed. I do think more GPs need to be open to if they aren’t full up.

OP posts:
StrawberryDelight10 · 08/07/2021 22:17

Is there a reason why you want your DD to register at that particular practice? They don't sound particularly good if they forced her off the lists when she needed help?

You might have done this already but it's worth looking at reviews of other GPs round your area and hopefully there's another that pops up with good feedback (I'm assuming there are others within your catchment otherwise that's ridiculous if she can't register anywhere!)

I hope your DD can get registered soon and at a place where she gets good support Flowers