Stop GP list cleansing until impact is independently reviewed, say doctors

Getty/ Nickbeer

By Daniel Pye

Stop removing patients from practice lists until an independent review can assess the impact, the Doctors’ Association UK has urged NHS England.

The campaign group has written an open letter to NHSE requesting the list cleansing programme be halted until its safety can be assessed.

Since November 2025 nearly 830,000 people have been removed from lists as NHSE embarked on a process of removing ‘ghost patients’ identified as having potentially moved out the area.

While DAUK supports accurate GP patient lists, it said this must not come at the expense of patient safety or the financial stability of general practice.

Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK GP co-lead, called the current list cleansing programme – known as FP69, “a big issue” for practices. An FP69 flag against a patient’s name gives the practice three months to confirm their address information before they are removed.

Someone who has not recently accessed NHS services is not necessarily a ghost patient, Taylor said, and there is a “real risk” harder-to-reach vulnerable patients could be removed without their knowledge.