Feedback from the 2020/21 GP Bureaucracy Review identified GP registration as a high volume and difficult task for practices and patients. 

The Register with a GP surgery service provides all practices in England with an online option for their patients, helping reduce the administrative burden for general practice as well as making GP registration more accessible to the public.

Around 1 in 7 practices are now using the online service on an opt-in basis and hundreds of thousands of successful registrations have taken place. We are using practice and patient feedback to enhance the service further and fine tune additional features in line with our Register with a GP surgery service roadmap.

The aim of the Modernising GP Registration programme is to make registering with an NHS GP an easier process for both practices and patients. 

People can now find a GP and then apply to register for themselves or someone they care for, via their chosen practice's website, the NHS website or the NHS App. In the longer-term, this will also automatically come through to the GP practice's clinical system. 

Early testing has shown the service has already reduced the application processing time by up to 15 minutes for practice staff, while offering patients more choice, convenience, and consistency in the way they register. 

Registering with a GP is the first step in accessing a wide range of health and care services, including the NHS App. The new online service will make it possible for people across England to register in a simplified and standardised way and improved paper form will sit alongside it.

As we co-develop the service, one of our guiding principles is to be accessible and inclusive of everyone.

We've worked with patients and a number of charities to ensure that we are making GP registration accessible to all. Charities we've worked with include Doctors of the World who support people seeking asylum, and Groundswell who work with people with experience of homelessness.

This email address is not for members of the public or patients.

GP surgeries and others working in health and care wanting more information about implementing the service, email: [email protected].