New in the UK: GP recommendation, please? Post Reply

[Sonja_Paris]

Hello

I could not find a recent answer to this question - please apologize if I have missed anything.

We have moved to the UK 10 days ago and need to register with a local GP (somewhere around Battersea Arts Centre or Clapham Junction) and I am looking for recommendations, please?

Is it possible to register with a Walk-in-Clinic or does it need to be a GP? We have 3 children (5/7/9) and all healthy, no specialist required - for now, fingers crossed. Still trying to figure out the system.

Thank you very much for your help!

[sebastianbear]

Hi. There is a walk-in health centre at Clapham Junction for any small emergencies, plus St George's and St Thomas' Accident & Emergency departments (long waits to be expected).

The GP service is a bit more complicated. You have to register with a practice near where you live, as each practice covers a specific area, with only a small overlap. This sounds simple, but many practices are over-subscribed, so the one you choose needs to have an open list i.e. they'll sign up new people. If you find you can't get into the practice you want, you'll probably have to sign up with a different doctor who does have space. I think you can then try your preferred practice again, as even heavily subscribed practices do open their lists from time to time, but I'm not sure how the switching process works.

I suggest you post again with a bit more detail as to where you live, so people can suggest practices nearby.

Hope it all works.

[notjustamum]

Hi, I've used the walk-in GP service at Grant Road at the back of Clapham Junction station on a couple of occasions when our own GP surgery was closed - and I've found them to be excellent. Both GPs I've seen were sympathetic, thorough and provided us with prescriptions and advice when needed urgently - once with a newborn baby when I was given the incorrect prescription and discharge notes by my maternity hospital! I understand you can register with them as they provide a 'regular' GP service also. If I lived closer by, I'd have no qualms about registering with them.

Hope this helps.

[MamaH]

The system works like this: You register with a GP, which as someone says, will be one of the ones close by. I'm afraid I don't know any near where you describe. In theory, they are all much of a muchness, but if you end up having a choice, you might want to step in and ask about how they handle appointments (do you have to see 'your' GP, or can you just make an appointment with any available doctor), what the turnover of doctors is like, and what some of the more senior people specialise in (GPs are generalists, but they do sometimes have an area of special interest). You'll need ID and something which proves your address (like a utility bill) to sign up, and they'll probably want you to fill in some medical history and maybe come in for a general check up too.

Walk In centres are for when your GP surgery is closed, but it isn't serious enough to go to A&E ('accident and emergency' for life threatening illness attached to a hospital). They will want to know what practice you are registered with, although they may see you without you being registered anywhere (don't know, never tried). But you wouldn't get any continuity of care, and they only deal with on the spot issues - anything more they would send your back to your GP or to somewhere like A&E if they thought it couldn't wait. I don;t think they would be able to refer you to specialists, for example - you need your GP for that.

Of course, they same place that offers the Walk In service, might also be a GP surgery, as someone has mentioned, but it's just a convince of location - you'd have to register with them as your GP separately.

So, essentially, you need to register with a GP surgery.