NHS IT, Records and Data

95,000 extra patients on GP lists

GPs in England and Wales have been overpaid for 95,000 ‘ghost’ patients, a 12-month review by the Audit Commission suggests. Patients need removing from GP lists after they have moved house, left the country, or even died.

The Department of Health admitted there could be as many as 2.5 million of these ‘extra’ patients, with some patients listed at multiple GP practices, causing duplication of payment. GPs are paid an average of £65 per patient regardless of appointments or treatment delivered.

This means that inaccurate lists could affect GPs, with some receiving more than their share of funding and others receiving less.

Some 30,000 patients moved house, over 32,000 are now dead, with some dying as long ago as 1980, and 10,000 who are failed asylum seekers, the review found. The National Duplicate Registration Initiative (NDRI) compared patient lists to identify duplication or anomalies in data.

For example, while it would not be unusual for 50 patients to be registered at a nursing home, 20 patients registered in one house would suggest inaccurate GP lists, the auditors said.

Katherine Murphy, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “At a time when the NHS is being asked to make huge savings the Government needs to provide answers as to how money was wasted in this way.”

Lord Howe, the health minister, said identifying “ghost patients” would ensure practices were “fairly funded only for the patients they are responsible for”.

He added: “The NHS needs to make the best use of the funds it has available and avoid giving GPs extra income for patients who have moved away or died.”

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