Background

In 2022, NHS England introduced a digital solution for Patients to register with a GP surgery.

At present, the GP Practice receives an email containing the details of the registering Patient, which is then manually keyed into the GP System. This is a costly and labour intensive procedure, which is subject to human error. This change is to automate the manual process.

The ‘Register with a GP Surgery’ service is part of a broader programme of work, including Primary Care Registration Management (PCRM), being managed by the Demographics team within NHS England’s Transformation Directorate. There is a strategy for a GP registration end-to-end process. The core tenants are to:

• Reduce the burden in GP Practices of the GP registration process

• Improve access to primary care for patients

• Reduce the ask for patients to provide data multiple times to the NHS

• Improve data quality at a key patient interaction point (GP registration)

• Reduce exceptions generated during the GP registration process

• Simplify and modernise the interactions and flow of data between GP IT systems and NHS England for GP registration (e.g. decommissioning NHAIS GP Links)

The Register with a GP Surgery service addresses all questions required by the legacy GMS1 process, as well as core health and lifestyle questions which inform the registration process for GP Practices. Once the new service is in use, many GP Practices are able to migrate away from both the GMS1 form and additional health and lifestyle questionnaires they have developed independently. The paper GMS1 form has also been redesigned (the new form is known as PRF1) to align with the improved question set and user-centred design of the digital solution. PRF1 is expected to replace GMS1 for all GP Practices by mid 2024.

This change will focus on the Supplier receiving a Patient registration notification (Type 3 - Transfer) and will also auto-populate the Patient’s health and lifestyle questions for those Patients.

Outline Plan

All Foundation Suppliers must be compliant against this specification by the Effective Date. Prior to go live Suppliers must have completed the Solution Assurance by NHSE. The Effective Date is reflective of the GP Mandate that comes into effect in October 2024.

Suppliers should engage with the Register with a GP Surgery team at the earliest opportunity to facilitate collaboration.

During development, Foundation Suppliers are required to participate in weekly status meetings to ensure collaboration and prompt resolution of issues.

This Roadmap Item focuses on Patients who have been authenticated with NHS login to P9 identity verification level (as detailed in How NHS login works), matched to a PDS record (i.e. an NHS number) and whose registration request has been identified to be always accepted by administrators (e.g. over 18, matched to a PDS record, within the GP catchment area and are of a registration Type 3 - Transfer).

Future phases will expand the user group by following assurance in the Register with a GP Surgery Service and will expand to include registrations that need human review, by creating a mechanism that allows GP administrators to review and accept or reject a registration request before automatically creating a local Patient Record. 

Summary of Change

Full Specification

• Multicast Notification Service (MNS)

• Register with a GP Service

• Patient Information Maintenance - GP v8.0.0

Assurance Approach

• NHSE will take a risk based approach to Test & Assurance

• Suppliers will be asked to participate in weekly meetings to review progress, address issues and mitigate risks (Clinical, Functional and Non-Functional)

• Risk Mitigations will be evidenced and provided to NHSE for sign-off (eg. evidence, explanation, screenshots and/or demonstrations). The risk log will explicitly state the applicable risk mitigations for the respective risk(s)

• Suppliers are required to conduct and evidence user research to ensure the solution caters for user needs

• NHSE will review Supplier testing scope, coverage and risk mitigation evidence

• Suppliers will be asked to collaborate in test environments to verify integration and end-to-end tests

• Suppliers will be asked to collaborate on a roll out plan and associated testing in live environments

• Some functional assurance may be performed by the NHSE Solutions Assurance team, where deemed appropriate

• NHSE will review Supplier's implementation delivers the expected business outcomes the expected business outcomes as stated in the supplied user stories