Since its launch 18 months ago, more than 1 million patients have used the national online service to register with a GP.
The online Register with a GP surgery service, which is managed by NHS England, enables patients to go online at any time of day to find and register with a local GP. This means they don't have to visit the practice in person.
One in three GP practices now offer the service, which was introduced to make registering with a new GP simpler and more convenient for both patients and GP practices.
The latest figures show almost half (48 per cent) of patients registered outside normal GP surgery opening hours and one in 15 accessed the digital service in another language.
In the recently published GP contract, all GP surgeries in England have been asked to offer the Register with a GP surgery service from October 2024.
Dr Amanda Doyle, national director of primary care and community services for NHS England, said: “We’re delighted to have reached this milestone of 1 million GP registration forms submitted online in the last 18 months, which shows the value of the service for both patients and GP surgeries.
“The service not only reduces the administrative burden for general practice, but also makes GP registration much more accessible to the public – offering patients more choice, convenience and consistency.
“We continue to see a steady increase in the number of GP practices coming on board, which is helping them to save both time and money. By recently integrating the service with the NHS App, we hope even more GP practices will take advantage of this new digital tool.”
Nicola Davies, practice manager at the Roseland Surgeries in Cornwall and Director of the Institute of General Practice Management, said: “The Register with a GP surgery service is straightforward for practices to use, with no formal training required. It fits in around our existing processes to welcome a new patient to our practice, for example arranging medication reviews for new patients with repeat prescriptions.
“In my practice we have received really good feedback from patients as they no longer feel the need to contact our team during opening hours regarding registration – it’s given them an option that wasn’t previously available and saved the need for a trip to the surgery which is often unnecessary.”
