8 day removals

PCSE will reject a removal request when it does not meet the criteria outlined in the relevant section of NHS England Primary Medical Care Policy and Guidance Manual (PGM).

There are a number of common reasons for removal requests being rejected, please see some examples below:

• They have moved outside of the practice area and you do not wish to treat the patient under the Out of Area Scheme
• Mail has been returned as ‘undelivered’, or
• Whereabouts are unknown

NB: To remove a patient for the above reasons, please submit a request through the GP links.

• Patient no longer wishes to be registered at any GP surgery

It should be emphasised that NHS England and PCSE do not encourage this type of removal due to the potential clinical implications of patients being unregistered. It is encouraged that if patients are unhappy with the services provided by a GP practice that they are advised accordingly on how to register with a different GP practice and not to remove themselves from a GP list. However, if a patient no longer wishes to be registered at any GP surgery, PCSE place the patient on a pending deduction that runs for 14 days. To do so, the patient must send confirmation in the form of a signed letter expressing their desire to be removed. They can send this letter direct to the following address: Primary Care Support England, PO Box 350, Darlington, DL1 9QN.

Alternatively, the patient can direct this letter to their GP and the GP can scan and send the letter via email to pcse.patientremovals@nhs.net for action. Following this, the patient will have no recorded GP after 14 calendar days. PCSE will send out a confirmation letter to the patient providing their removal date. The GP requesting the removal should discuss this removal with the patient to ensure that they are aware of their options.

As PCSE are governed by NHS England policy, we are unable to provide any additional guidance and any complaints or further queries should be raised to your local commissioner. Please note that PCSE do not hold lists of commissioner details.

Eight-day removal requests are initiated by the GP as a result of a breakdown in relationship between the GP and the patient.

Before submitting a request you should ensure that the criteria outlined in the NHS England Primary Medical Care Policy and Guidance Manual (PGM) (Section 3. Managing Patient Lists subsection Removing a Patient from a Practice List) has been met.

GP Practices should provide the patient with a prior warning, before requesting a deduction unless there are extenuating circumstances – please refer to the PGM.  If a request is received that does not meet the criteria it will be rejected by PCSE with any additional information requested. Upon receipt of a valid request, PCSE will process it within 24 hours and the patient is notified. Any prior warning should be within 12 months of the eight-day removal request.

After a request has been validated and the deduction has been initialised within PCSE, the patient is notified immediately via letter, delivered first class. The patient notification informs them of the practice’s decision to remove them, the date the deduction will be finalised and advises them of what action they now need to take, to register elsewhere.

PCSE will notify the GP that the request has been processed. The patient will be deducted after 8 days, unless a registration is received from another practice sooner.

If you require any further guidance in regards to eight-day removals, please contact your local commissioner. Please note that PCSE do not hold lists of commissioner details.