GPs across England have until October to ensure they have adopted a national NHS service allowing patients to sign up digitally – with two thirds of surgeries yet to do so
More than 4,000 general practice surgeries across England have less than six months to ensure they are online registration for new patients.
The recently published GP contract for the 2024/25 year outlined that practices are now required to adopt the national ‘Register with a GP surgery’ offered by NHS England. This platform provides a standardised form through which citizens can sign up for a new practice via an online or paper form, or using the NHS app.
The six-month period up to October represents a six-month “mobilisation period” for GPs to get up and running on the software.
The health service recently claimed that one third of surgeries are already using the service – which last month passed the milestone of processing a million registrations since its launch in 2022.
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The most recent data set published by the NHS reveals that there are about 6,300 individual surgeries across England.
This means that 4,200 have six months left to ensure they have adopted the national service and begun offering digital registration for new patients. Alongside online sign-ups, surgeries must also enable users to register using the paper form provided by NHS England.
These formats can be integrated with a practice’s existing website and manual processes, according to the NHS, while also offering benefits for patients.
“Registration is quick and easy for patients, with the service automatically checking if they live in the catchment area for their new GP surgery”, said a recent health service press release. “It also matches patients to their NHS record, further reducing admin for GP surgeries.”
