Registering as an out of area patient
This guide explains the process of registering as an Out of Area Patient and what it means for your access to services.
What is an Out of Area Patient?
If you live outside the usual catchment area for Mansfield Medical Centre, you may still be able to register as an Out of Area patient. However, there are certain services that you may not be eligible for as part of this registration.
As an Out of Area patient, you will not be eligible for certain services that are dependent on being close to the practice. These services include:
- Home visits: If you are too ill to attend the surgery in the future, we will not be able to offer home visits.
- Local/Community services: You may not have access to some community services provided in your local area such as community nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy or similar services.
Please consider carefully before deciding to register as an Out of Area patient. If in the future you are unable to physically attend the surgery due to illness or mobility issues, you may then need to re-register at a more local GP surgery to access services like home visits or community-based care.
Accessing urgent care as an out of area patient
- You may on occasion, develop an urgent illness or injury at home that means attending the GP surgery as normal would not be appropriate.
- If you require a GP please contact the practice in the first instance. If we determine you need access to services local to where you live we may ask you to call NHS 111, and explain that your are registered as an out of area patient (without home visits). In these circumstances NHS 111 will direct you to the local service that has been established by NHS England for patients such as you.
- This local service could be a GP practice near to where you live, the local walk-in or urgent care centre, A&E or minor injuries unit. This local service will then decide if you can attend for an urgent face to face appointment with a healthcare professional or if a home visit is needed which will be based on your individual circumstances.
- If this is in the out-of-hours period when GP surgeries are normally closed – between 6:30pm and 8:00am weekdays and during weekends – NHS 111 will direct you to the local out-of-hours provider.
Moving Out of the Catchment Area
- If you are currently registered with Mansfield Medical Centre and move out of the catchment area, we will allow you to remain as a patient with us.
- However you will be first de-registered from the practice and then re-registered as an Out of Area patient, with the limitation of no home visits and restricted access to some local services.
- We will inform you of this change and so you should consider at that time if remaining with the practice is the correct decision for you.
Please enter your postcode [box in the top right corner] in interactive map below to check if your are within the practice catchment area.