Have you visited your GP in the last 5 years?

Rather than penalise us who are fit and don't have the need to visit the doctor for every twinge, shouldn't we be praised for not wasting the doctors time and the NHS's funds. I haven't seen my doctor for about 10 years and am sure just going for the sake of it is a complete waste of time - if I was unwell and needed help I would ask for it.

Pussk2 GPs are paid on the basis of the number of patients registered with their practice and also receive payments for specific activities, maternity care, vaccinations, including out-of-hours etc. and thus without patients they wouldn't receive pay and possibly be unable to provide an NHS service. This is a very simplistic explanation of a quite complex system but does explain the emphasis now being put on 'ghost' patients.

You are right in believing that people over 60 and those with certain other chronic health problems such as diabetes, COPD, on medications that can affect their immune system etc. are advised to have a 'flu jab each year to try and prevent the severe complications (including death) of the strain of flu predicted for that year but there are a number of people who don't take take up this free offer for what ever reason. I'm more in favour of prevention.

Just a thought, but shouldn't all over 60's or is it 65's be getting flu jabs every year? In which case this probably doesn't affect most people on this site. No GPs shouldn't get paid just for having patients on their lists. Maybe some bright person could come up with an app to remind us to re register every 5 years. May be I should keep quiet as I am at the surgery every month for tablets and see my GP at least 2 times a year as I have quite a few health problems.

MaureenE, whilst appreciating you are entitled to your views on what is offered by GP practices just be grateful you are in a position to refuse something that is offered free to patients. Many peoples lives have been saved by taking advantage of such screenings. If you choose to refuse such services that is you decision, fortunately there are people who recognise the importance of these and take advantage of something not offered in many countries. A great deal of research over the years has shown that monitoring patients who have the potential to develop certain conditions can save the NHS millions and most GP's do not have the time or resources to offer these for no particular reason other than to receive a small fee.

I was taken off the doctors list 10 years ago . I went to get a required injection for a trip to mexico.I was told I had been taken off the list and had to reregister. I had not moved house. I never received a letter. I have not been back since . But I wonder if they have done it again. I have no proof but I feel it was maybe because I do not rush for every test and "mot" they offer because they recieve a fee for every approved test (cholesterol Diabetes etc ) that they make. Only an observation!

With my GP, you phone at 8am and join a queue. You will be lucky to be seen within two weeks. If you can't get appointment, you go to surgery and wait. It is common to wait more than three hours. Blood tests are frequently cancelled because the nurse has once again called in sick. Our nearest hospital is seventeen miles. Waiting in A+E for treatment is usually four to six hours. In all areas of health provision in my locality, there is a chronic shortage of staff, and too many people trying to access the service.
It is not unreasonable for GPs to contact those they haven't seen for some time to ascertain if they are (a) still alive and (b) still in the area. I believe we need to pay more. We also need to look at the huge number of people in admin. Does NHS need so many highly paid executives? They also should examine the many cases where work is duplicated and the unnecessary waste caused by the failure of different departments to communicate with each other.

Let's get some reality into this rather flabby discussion! I hope jeanmark, a 47 year health professional would support me, at least in part.

This is sold to us as a cost saving exercise, to make the NHS leaner and more efficient. It's nothing of the sort. It's another bureaucratic lie! This will cost more to implement than will ever be saved.

Think about it. Within a month of each doctor's surgery or medical centre being polled the list of 'missing' patients will be growing again. So next year, Capita will need to be employed again to repeat the exercise. And it will roll on. Year after year. Nice little earner!

Let's look at Capita. They were contracted alongside ATOS to weed out malingerers claiming incapacity benefits. What did they do? An example from the UK press. Tell a man with no arms he could use a computer keyboard! I did say let's get some reality in this discussion?

This exercise is about reducing the income of doctor's surgeries and medical centres. If that happens there will be fewer doctors, fewer practice nurses (I wouldn't mind that in our local practice, as the practice nurse is an absolute dragon!). But if their income diminishes, then so do the services they may offer us. We'll get NHS but lite. Is that what we want?

I say again on this thread, if we want cradle to grave, round the clock medical care, then we must pay for it. Continuing health throughout life doesn't come cheap. If we're over fifty, and most of us are, then our needs increase as the years roll by. We demand more from the NHS.

All of us, those just entering the work place and those of us departing it, must pay more.

I think it was Dorothy Parker who said, 'there's no such thing as a free lunch.' Given her riposte was more about bedding the person offering her a much, she spoke a truth, none the less.

One get's what is paid for, well, in this life. We're all going to have to pay more and that way give Capita the boot and we remain on doctor's rolls.

Annie65, the question isn't about patients leaving a practice without informing the GP practice, it's about NHS England trying to introduce a scheme whereby any one who hasn't seen their GP for 5 years will be sent two letters informing them that if they don't respond they will be removed from that GP's register. GP's are against this scheme as they recognise that patients could be excluded for no good reason other than the fact they haven't been ill enough to require their services or even overlook the reason the letter has been sent. The issue is being led by NHS England not GP's or the local Health Authorities.

When a patient leaves one GP practice and registers with another, their medical record is automatically sent to that practice. I work in a GP practice - letters are not sent out by us to people who have not seen a GP for 5 years - they are sent by the local Health Authority. GP' s have got such a heavy workload that they don't have time to track patients.. it is the patient's responsibility to reply to the letters - and if they don't they are excluded.. common sense!

I visited the doctor 3 months ago. That was my first visit in just under 5 years. Why would I visit my GP if I wasn't I'll. I have the usual colds, aches and pains and allergies that everyone has but I buy over the counter remedies. If I need to see a GP I will. Having to visit a GP or risk being taken off the register is ridiculous. It is hard enough to get appointments when you are Ill never mind what it would be like if all the healthy people visited as well

Why shouldn't gp's be accountable - everyone else is !
The payment system for them is pretty ludicrous anyway, so why should they be paid for patients who no longer require their services ?

WE need more efficiency in the NHS. Its getting too large but lets face it keeping healthy is the most important part of life so we need to keep the funding and the efficiency. This seems sensible to me

Unfortunately I would never be able to go five years without a visit to my GP, I wish I could !

Twice in the last thirty years,neither visit was any help wharsoever

This a is a cost saving exercise requested by NHS England and to be carried out by Capita, the out-sourcing giant often employed by the state. Along with Atos they were a big part of the complete lash up of re-assessing disabled people and their suitability for work.

We should have confidence, then. The GP lists are to be in good hands!

When are we going to realise a National Health Service on the cheap just isn't going to happen.

No amount of nips, tucks, penny pinching or slash and burn policies will make the least bit of difference. If we wish the NHS to once again be a world beater, then we're going to have to pay for it. I'd willing pay a little more tax if for one moment I believed any government would apply the entirety of that extra take directly to the NHS. But they won't. It would end up in the General Taxation pool. That's the nature of the Exchequer.

We all now have too high an expectation of the NHS. Yet it seems we are unwilling to pay for that expectation to one day be met.

Perhaps the most efficient solution to all the NHS funding difficulties would be to divorce it from government, along with Education and the Police Service. Let each set a budget for the coming year and it must be met by the State, no matter what! But it won't happen any time soon. Whitehall needs political footballs which are in effect their whipping boys!

I understand Jo Kingham what you mean but what of those people who don't respond to the letter as they don't understand the rationale for it being sent. It would be great if everyone was a responsible person and informed practices when they moved away, unfortunately there a a large number of people who do not fall into that category. I do not have an answer to the question but I note GP's are concerned if this is introduced by NHS England and they are the experts on care provision in the community not NHS England.

I think one of the problems is people move away and don't de-register. This makes it look like surgeries are full when actually they aren't, people then get upset as they cant get into their local practice. I don't see what the problem is as long as you respond to the letter they send then you still stay on their books.

It makes a mockery of why you are encouraged to register with a GP practice and this when they are trying to stop people attending A&E departments instead going to see their GP. If you are young and healthy why would you need to see a GP unless for a non-life threatening reason i.e. sprained ankle, Trigger finger etc. or will they expect people to pretend they are ill (there are enough of those already). GP practices are finding it difficult to cope as it is without having to see otherwise healthy people just because they want to remain registered! Having to send two letters will surely add to the workload and there will always be those who ignore such letters as that won't necessarily understand the rationale behind it being sent

But surely this will just increase numbers of unnecessary appointments being made to ensure you aren't removed, taking up more of the doctors valuable time.