Millions of patients face being dropped by NHS GPs for being TOO HEALTHY

Millions of patients face being dropped by their GP for being too healthy.

They will be axed if they have not seen a doctor in five years and fail to respond to two written warnings.

The measure is aimed at freeing up space on surgery lists as well as saving public money.

In some areas patients are being written off after just a year.

NHS bosses say cash is being wasted paying GPs for ‘ghost’ patients who have either died or moved away.

But MPs and campaigners say the crackdown will penalise patients who avoid making a fuss, especially middle-aged men and the elderly.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, whose department has defended the moves because cash is being wasted paying GPs for ‘ghost’ patients who have either died or moved away

Those who have been removed will have to visit their surgery to re-register – providing proof of address and identity.

On top of the hassle, they face waits of up to three weeks for an appointment.

‘This is an outrageous practice which undermines the principle that people have a right to be registered with a GP,’ said Norman Lamb, the LibDem health spokesman.

‘It will hit some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, including many who suffer from mental ill health. It should be abandoned forthwith.’

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Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said the scheme ‘took NHS rights away from people who are fit, healthy and have not needed to seek medical advice for a while’.

She added: ‘Some patients might struggle to understand or get confused as to why they are being asked to confirm their details and others could simply overlook it.’

She also warned patients would be removed in error and find they couldn’t make an appointment when they urgently needed one.

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, said: ‘Every precaution must be taken to ensure that vulnerable older people are not removed from lists inappropriately, especially as we know that there are older people who will struggle to answer a written request.’

Uncovered by Pulse magazine, the ‘list-cleansing’ drive is being spearheaded by NHS England rather than GPs.

AXED BY SURGERY AFTER 95 YEARS AS A PATIENT 

Lily Dove, 95, who has been asked to leave her doctor surgery in Watton, Norfolk to make way for the new influx of people to the area

A woman of 95 was among hundreds of patients dropped from a GP practice’s register when it became overwhelmed by people moving into the area.

Great-grandmother Lily Dove had used the surgery in Watton, near Norwich, for so long that she could remember when the doctor would visit on a horse and trap.

But she was one of 1,500 people removed from the practice’s list in 2014 as it struggled to recruit enough GPs to cope with the town’s growing population, many of them from Eastern Europe.

Mrs Dove, now 97, spoke at the time of her shock at being told she would be ‘deregistered’ within a fortnight and would have to move to a different clinic.

‘I’ve been with the Watton surgery all my life, as were my parents before me. This letter from the surgery just came out of the blue,’ she said. ‘There was no question of discussing it with you.’

The Watton practice’s decision to strike off some patients was taken by local managers in response to the huge pressures on the service in the area.

The agency has hired a private firm, Capita, to oversee the project. All surgeries will have to produce a list of patients who have not made contact for five years.

They will all be sent a maximum of two warning notices asking them to confirm they want to remain on the register.

Experts questioned how the NHS would save money by spending millions of pounds hiring a private firm.

The project is part of a £400million contract for Capita to oversee GP administration.

Health officials are worried that up to £160million a year goes to doctors for ghost patients.

Surgeries receive an average of £136 a year for each patient regardless of how often they make an appointment or need routine screening.

Norman Lamb, a Liberal Democrat MP, has described the scheme as ‘outrageous’ and breaches the right to be registered with a GP

The de-listing scheme started in East Anglia in March and it is now being rolled out nationally after proving highly effective at saving money. NHS managers elsewhere in the country have already begun striking patients off lists under their own initiatives.

A scheme in Devon last year saw about 1 per cent of patients – around 11,000 – removed.

Meanwhile, in North and West London NHS managers have begun removing patients if they have not made contact in the past year, including women who failed to attend a smear test.

Robert Morley, of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: ‘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.’

David Wrigley, a Lancashire GP and member of the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: ‘This is a cynical attempt to reduce funding to general practice at a time when GPs have already suffered huge budget cuts.’

Surgeries are struggling to cope with the rising levels of immigration, an ageing population and a professional recruitment crisis.

Growing numbers of family doctors are retiring and not being replaced by younger trainees who instead choose to work in hospitals.

An NHS England spokesman said: ‘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.’