Patients in England are being told to text "here" or "gone" to confirm whether they should stay on their GP practice's list, under a new NHS England pilot. The text option has been added to the health service's drive to clean up GP patient lists, which doctors say is removing genuine patients by mistake.

How the text pilot works

Patients who receive a letter from NHS England about their registration can now reply by text, using the number given in that letter. They text HERE or GONE, together with their NHS number and a unique code. NHS England said the number ends in 1513 and will never be used for initial outbound contact. The commissioner said the option would help patients with limited digital access and cut GP workload.

Why lists are being checked

GP practices are paid according to how many patients are registered, so NHS England regularly reviews lists to remove so-called "ghost patients" — people who have died, moved away, or no longer use the surgery. Pulse reported the current drive is targeting six to seven million patients. Patients normally have 30 days to confirm their registration; if there is no reply, a flag is applied to their record.

Doctors warn genuine patients are being lost

The British Medical Association has warned the exercise is too aggressive. It says more than 300,000 patients have been stripped from GP lists across England in the past year, costing practices just under £40 million in funding. In London alone, more than 315,000 patients were removed between January and September. A survey found almost 70 per cent of practices had identified patients wrongly removed from their lists.

NHS England's response

NHS England said funding should follow patients, and that robust checks ensured people were not removed inappropriately.