Healthwatch Haringey GP Surveys: Have surgeries removed barriers to patient registration?
Our project to make it easier to register at a GP surgery, got off to a good start in September, with Doctors of the World running two training sessions for GP reception staff.
The practices in attendance were:
- Bounds Green
- Lawrence House
- Muswell Hill
- Queenswood
- Tottenham
- Tynemouth
- Westbury
For those who were unable to attend the training, we offered to provide a short online briefing. This offer was taken up by Somerset Gardens. The offer is still open to surgeries wishing to take advantage of the briefing.
Safe Surgeries
A 'Safe Surgery' is any GP Practice which commits to taking steps to tackle the barriers faced by many migrants in accessing healthcare. Practices signed up to the network will receive resources, training and support in following the NHS England guidance as part of a community of practice to ensure that lack of ID or proof of address, immigration status or language are not barriers to patient registration.
Currently, there are 26 Haringey GP Practices registered as Safe Surgeries. We want to increase that number and understand how we can further support staff in taking steps towards becoming more inclusive during the ongoing process of becoming a Safe Surgery.
Mystery shopping GP surgeries
In October and November 2022 Healthwatch Haringey will be mystery shopping every Haringey GP Practice to find out if they will register a new patient without proof of address or ID. We will also be finding out if Practices offer an interpreter service and / or help with completing the registration forms. Our mystery shopping will be through phone calls and visiting the Practice in-person.
- We will be producing hard copy leaflets and posters in community languages, letting people know their right to register with a GP.
- We want to make sure that practice staff know what the rules are and know how to help people who can't provide ID.
Survey of GP reception staff
We have learned that some reception staff might have concerns about registering patients without proof of address or ID, and that some of the problems may be structural. In other words, there may be barriers to easy registration within the system.
We are asking GP reception staff to tell us what their concerns are in an anonymous survey, and we will include their feedback in our final report.
If you're responsible for registering new patients at a Haringey GP surgery and would like to complete the survey, please email tanya@healthwatchharingey.org.uk
Downloads
Scoping the systemic barriers which lead to unsuccessful general practitioner registration attempts amongst Londoners
This report looked at the structural barriers to easily registering new patients and how these can be overcome.
