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Patients will soon be able to register with the doctor of their choice regardless of where they live.
The removal of GP practice boundaries within the next 12 months will make life easier for everyone from busy mothers to commuting workers, health secretary Andy Burnham said.
"Health services should be there to make things easier," he said in a speech to health care charity The King's Fund. "A busy mum may want to register at a practice near her children's school. Equally, a commuter may want to register near to work."
The next phase of NHS reform will also focus on providing a "people focused" experience. Hospitals which achieve higher rates of "patient satisfaction" will be paid "significantly more".
Reader views (3)
This really is welcome news.
- Jenni, Oxford
The NHS’s main problem is inefficiencies! This would, on average, only add to them. Registering with a doctor not local to where you live is nonsense – no GP would want to do a home visit from their London practice to Brighton or Stevenage. Mark is absolutely correct that GP practices need longer and more flexible opening hours. Mine now opens at 7:30 a number of mornings a week. There is still a case for some people to see a GP near where they work (or are educated) and the sensible route here would be for people to be allowed a secondary registration. However, I suspect that this would require the government to create 10,000 new jobs to handle the cross charging!
- Michael, London
Who exactly has been crying out for this? Sounds like a convenient way for the Government to cover up the fact that GP's are not doing after-hours surgeries, as they're already being paid quite handsomly thanks to Labour's overly generous deal.
- Mark, London
