‘Ghost patients’ to be removed from GP list, NHS England confirms

NHS England has confirmed that patients who have not visited their GP for over five years are set be stuck off of GP surgery lists if they do not contact heir doctor for more than five years.

The plans are part of a wider NHS cost-cutting strategy to ensure money is not being wasted paying GPs around £100 per year for looking after ‘ghost patients’.

Under the new plans, a patient who has been out of touch with their GP for over five years will receive two letters asking them to confirm they wish to stay on the list. If they fail to respond they will be taken off the GP’s register.

The proposals were initially reported in Pulse and attracted much opposition from GPs who warned that key groups such as children and men aged between 20-45 would be less likely to respond to prompts, meaning they could lose access to GP care as a result of the scheme.

An NHS spokesperson commented: “The National Audit Office and House of Commons Public Accounts Committee have all drawn attention to the need to ensure accurate patient lists, and for proper stewardship of public funds. We doubt that contractual change would be needed but should it be, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

However, Dr Robert Morley, chair of the contracts and regulations subcommittee of the British Medical Association’s GPs committee, argued: “Patients have a right to be registered unless they move or register elsewhere, even if they don’t need to or choose not to access services.

"NHS England should abandon this exercise, which will have the inevitable consequences of disruption for patients and a reduction of core funding disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable practices.”