ICB testimonials

We previously ran an 18-month digital registration pilot with 45 practices in North Central London and were thrilled with the 22,000 new digital registrations we achieved. All of the practices involved have now transitioned to the Register with a GP surgery service as it matched or exceeded their experience with our previous solution. 

Even before we decided as an ICB to implement the national service, some of our practices had signed up independently, as they viewed the national tool to be a better option for them. When you have something that is a patient-friendly digital registration option, and can also reduce practice admin, it’s going to be a winner.

Having both a paper and a digital option offers patient the choice of how they wish to register, based on their circumstances. 

We did have an element of scepticism from our practices. Some questioned the time saved by registering the patient digitally compared to the traditional method. Some preferred a face-to-face process with ID checking due to concerns about identity. The national service’s use of NHS login has helped address the ID issue and the time saved is clear - although it rapidly gets absorbed – it just lets our practice staff do other things for patients.

We were keen to move to a patient registration service which reflects the NHS brand more strongly and gives a more consistent experience for patients, whether they chose to access through the NHS App or through their GP practice website, linking into our work to deliver against the primary care access recovery plan. 

About 10% of our practices had already signed up to the Register with a GP surgery service before we started this roll out, which will see all the practices in our ICB enrolled within a three-month period.  

We have found it a seamless process, working closely with the Register with a GP surgery service team, who’ve been really supportive. They've answered all our questions and are running weekly drop-in sessions to help practices understand how to use the service, including managing their profile through the NHS website and allowing them to really take ownership and control of the process.

Having realised the benefits of the service in terms of time savings for our practices and improved access for patients, we’re in the process of gradually transitioning all 183 practices in our ICB to the national service. We have had great interest so far with around a half of our practices enrolled already.

The NHS England team has been very welcoming with the support in presenting multiple demos to Kent and Medway practices with Q&A sessions. We have been enrolling around 10-15 practices each week, ensuring that they are fully supported as they make the switch. Any questions they have are answered by a dedicated team of experts and there are regular demo sessions for practices to attend when requested, as well as the guidance materials available on the resource hub.