Why does my baby have to be registered at the same GP as me?

[Sheila4327]

Hi,

Without going into detail I am registered with a GP from my mum's address as my mental health team are there and I don't want to change my mental health team (I have a large mental health history) I am living with the father in another area and registered the baby with a practice in that area. I got a text from my GP (my area) saying they have booked my child in for immunisations. I called them and explained my baby is registered at a different GP to me. They said they won't accept me if my child is at a different GP... I explained the baby's GP didn't have an issue with this. But they were adamant I have to register my baby at their one. It complicates things as then the health visitor changes to my old address (which I can still access as my mum lives there).

Why is this a thing? Why can't we be registered at different GPs?

She couldn’t see a GP until she was over 12 months (which was when they were willing to take babies who didn’t have a mum registered), so any medical care required a trip to out of hours. It also meant her 12 month vaccines were delayed, as we couldn’t book her vaccines in advance.

You have to waste hospital time and use out of hours, it also meant she was denied routine vaccinations and had to have them late.

Incidentally, our social worker when we asked for her advice told us it was a known problem and they have had a lot of dad only families have this issue.

That’s awful

It forces the baby to be registered with a GP. It means no child in the UK (with a few very rare exemptions) doesn't have a Dr.

As others have said this triggers health visitor visits and vaccination reminders.

The Danielle Reid (RIP) case is one of the reasons. Her mother was able to take her out of school, claim she had moved away to Manchester and pretend nothing had happened.

What happens now is that if a child is removed from the GP list a check is made on where they are subsequently registered. But that doesn't work unless the child is registered initially.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/07_03_06_daniellereid.pdf

Recommendation 11 of the report for those who do not want to read it, it is harrowing, Danielle was only 5 when she was killed.

"Proactive systems must be put in place urgently to ensure adequate tracking of vulnerable children. If this, by necessity, requires tracking of the parents of vulnerable children then this should be embedded in legislation, as well as being routine practice of practitioners involved."

Yes mothers do walk away from their children but it is far more common for a mother to remain with her children and in some cases have children with different fathers.

@sashh a poster has pointed out if there is no mum then a child isn't registered with a GP until they are 12 months old which is a serious failure in safeguarding.

@Reugny As I said, a few, very rare exceptions. That means there should be a mechanism to register those babies.

I was attempting to explain how the policy fits with safeguarding.

My sons not at the same doctors as me.

Sometimes the behaviour of the mother is a relevant factor in the health of the child. I'm thinking of those cases where there is munchausens by proxy. Surely in order for those children ti get safe care, it's a good rule.