Birchwood is pleased to advise that it can accept registration requests from patients who do not live in the catchment area.
Since January 5 2015, all GP practices in England have been free to register new patients who live outside their practice boundary area.
This means you can register with a GP practice somewhere that’s more convenient for you, such as a practice near your work or closer to your children’s schools. This will give you greater choice and aims to improve the quality of access to GP services.
Having your choice of GP is very important. Knowing you can get an appointment when you need it is a priority for most people.
We can currently offer routine appointments within one week or less. Please note this may not always be with your GP if choice but if you are acutely unwell then seeing a GP is what is important.
How can I register if I live out of area?
Simply come to our desk in Brooklea Health Centre. There are 2 GP practices in the building and we are the first desk you will come to. If there is no one at the desk then please “ring our bell” and we will be happy to attend to you!
Please advise our patient coordinator that you are registering from outside of the area which will ensure you receive the appropriate documentation.
Do we accept all out of area registration requests?
No.
This organisation applies the same policy for all patient inquiries to ensure fairness and equitable treatment of requests.
The areas considered are directly related to complexity of care, frequency of access needs, patient safety and continuity of care provision.
Areas for review include but are not limited to :
- If a patient is in a different ICB area or they are in South Glos or North Somerset we will not accept these patients due to
- Excessive distance from the practice
- Tertiary services not linked to the practice boundary
- We also do not accept patients where there are multiple closer GP practices who can serve their care needs better
- Children of pre-school age or safeguarding flag on record
- We will not accept these patients due to:
- Tertiary services not linked to the practice boundary
- Adult and Child Safeguarding welfare require direct contact with associated services geographically
- Where a patient has complex care needs requiring significant GP input we advise the patient they will be better served by a local practice as there is a higher risk of home visit needs, which would compromise continuity of care provision and increase associate risks.
- Patients who have not attended scheduled appointments (DNA) more than 3 occasions in the preceding 6 months or have received a DNA warning in the preceding 12 months will be declined
- DNAs are indicative of attendance issues to the current local practice and accepting the patient out of area would not be a positive step to support attendance at the GP surgery
- No Telephone Contact Details
- It is vital that patients living outside of our practice boundary have telephone contact details as the practice does not undertake home visits for patients living out of the practice area
A request that falls into one or more of the above categories will be declined as an out of area registration.
The practice will decide, following a review of your completed registration form, whether to accept you as a regular patient or accept you without home visiting duties (if it is clinically appropriate and practical for you to be registered away from home).
The GPs may feel that if you have complex care needs you would be better suited to remain with a GP closer to your home so that continuity of care is provided when home visits are necessary.
If you have a child/children who are still under the care of the health visitor we may also decline your request to ensure that we adhere to our safeguarding policies.
You will be notified and advised to register at a more local practice to you if we are unable to maintain you as patients on our practice list.
Will I get home visits?
Because of the greater distance to your home, our GPs are not obliged to offer you a home visit. This is why those with more complex care needs are not encouraged to register out of area.
However, if your health is usually well managed and you unexpectedly need a home visit it will be provided – just not by our GPs here.
If you have been accepted to register with Birchwood and need a home visit then simply call NHS 111 who coordinates out of area home visits.
For more information please click this link which takes you to our standard letter for patients.