To ask Her Majesty's Government what is (1) the residence qualification, and (2) the personal identification documentation required, from people seeking to register with general practitioners for treatment under the NHS.
Answered on
18 July 2018
NHS England’s policy ‘Patient Registration, Standard Operating Principles for Primary Medical Care (General Practice)’ states that:
“When applying to become a patient there is no regulatory requirement to prove identity, address, immigration status or the provision of an NHS number in order to register. However, there are practical reasons why a practice might need to be assured that people are who they say they are, or to check where they live, so it can help the process if a patient can provide relevant documents. There is however no contractual requirement to request this nor is establishing an individual’s identity the role of General Practice.
Any practice policy to ask for patient ID should be applied in a non-discriminatory fashion. This means the policy should apply to all prospective patients equally.”
As there is no requirement under the regulations to produce identity or residence information, the patient must be registered on application unless the practice has reasonable grounds to decline – such as where the patient lives outside of the practice area.