The Stubbington Medical Practice

HOW DO I....

REGISTER WITH THE PRACTICE?

If you live in our practice area, ie Stubbington, Hill Head, or Lee-on-the-Solent, and wish to register as a patient at our surgery, then we need certain information from you and each member of your family so as to be able to trace your previous medical records. To avoid registration fraud, patients will be requested to provide proof of identity.

You may register by:

• Calling into the surgery bringing with you your NHS medical cards from your previous NHS doctor.
  
• Calling into the surgery without your NHS medical cards from your previous NHS doctor. This may arise if you cannot find your cards. In this case you will be required to prove your identity by showing your driving licence or some other form of identity eg utility bill.
  
• If you have recently arrived in this country, you will be required to bring your passport to confirm your identity and eligibility to register with the practice.

You will be registered with the Stubbington Medical Practice and have the right to express a preference for seeing a particular general practitioner. Whilst we will endeavour to comply with your request it may not always be possible to do so and if this is the case an explanation will be offered.

NHS Number

Your NHS number is unique to you and is the only National Unique Patient Identifier, used to help healthcare staff and service providers to match you to your health records. It is an important step in providing you with safer patient care. Everyone registered with the NHS in England has their own NHS number.

Each NHS number is a unique 10 digit number which is printed on your NHS medical card. An example of an NHS number is 450 577 7104.

Some older medical cards include an old style NHS number which consists of both numbers and letters. Although having an old style NHS number will not affect the NHS care provided to you, the old style numbers have now been replaced with the new style format which was first introduced in 1996.

The NHS number is fundamental to the National Programme for IT as the key to unlocking services such as Choose and Book, the NHS Care Records Service and the Electronic Prescription Service.

NHS patients do not need to know their NHS number to receive NHS care. However, if you do know your NHS number or can show your medical card when you present to an NHS provider, this can help those treating you to find your record and share them safely with other healthcare professionals providing you with care.

As an added safety measure it is also helpful for you to check correspondence you receive to make sure services are using the right NHS number for you.

To find out more information about the NHS number please log on to www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk