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I have been removed from my GP's register - what can I do?

You can be removed from a practice’s list if you have moved house and are now outside of the practice area. You may also be removed if your relationship with your GP has broken down or if you are physically or verbally abusive to staff or other patients.

In most situations your GP must given you a warning and provide you with reasons for your removal. However if you have been, or threatened to be violent you can be removed immediately once the policy have been informed.

Your GP must inform your Primary Care Trust who will then inform you and you will be removed from the register on the eighth day after the PCT has received notification from your GP. Following removal the GP is only required to provide emergency treatment if it is deemed clinically necessary and you are entitled to the continuation of treatment occurring more than once a week until you are accepted by a new GP.

Once you have been removed you can approach another practice to see if they will accept you as a patient. This process is the same as changing doctor for any other reason. If you are unable to find a practice that will accept you, your local health authority will allocate you a GP.

You should never be removed from a practice list because of your age, your illness or any demands placed upon the NHS. You are also entitled to refuse to participate in locally or nationally agreed screening or immunisation programmes, question clinical techniques or safety measures within the practice and make both an informal or formal complaints. None of these reasons are justification for removal.

However, you may find following a formal complaint about your GP that your relationship with your GP is insufficient to continue effective doctor-patient communication and so a practice may suggest you transfer to a different doctor.

If you are unhappy about why you have been removed, feel the practice has not followed the correct procedure, or believe you may have been discriminate against for any reason you are entitled contact the practice manager of the practice and ask for more information. If you are still not satisfied you may complain to the practice manager or local PCT.