The Uppingham Surgery

I have recently returned to live in Uppingham having spent a period time working and living in London and therefore registered with a GP there. Due to the type of work I do I still work in London and commute to and from each day. However due to the nature of my employment I leave home at 6 am and return home at 19:30 at the earliest but usually later. I have attempted to register with the surgery via their electronic submission process, however having submitted my registration documents I gave the practice a call to confirm my predicament concerning personal delivery of identification documents within their opening hours and to provide some reasonable alternatives; scanned email copies to fulfil registration followed by originals at my next visit to the practice or originals at my first Dr's appointment, for which I was hoping to make. The advice given by the practice was that I am unable to register with the practice unless I can physically visit the practice to deliver my ID documents in person. I would then not be able to make an appointment whilst their administration process is undertaken, which takes a couple of days. I advised that this would mean taking at least two half days (probably full days) away from work very close together; one for delivery of ID documents and secondly for the Dr’s appointment, which I was given the impression could not be made until the full registration process took place. This is currently unacceptable to me due to my present workload. I suggested, what I thought to be common sense alternatives, such as; I either email scanned copies of the documents to the practice with a view that the originals could be verified later at a Dr’s appointment or that I take the documents with me at a later appointment with the Dr therefore meaning I only have to take one/half a day from work. I was advised that this would be an unacceptable alternative given that their policy is that they need to positively ID customers prior to registering and therefore providing medical care. It was made clear that the policy could not be broken. Whilst I completely understand the need for ID to be taken to register a patient and this can be supplied. I simply think that this lack of a common-sense approach to satisfy the needs of both the practice and the patient is depriving me of medical attention when needed. The response given by the surgery was, well “you're still registered with a practice in London aren’t you?”. Helpful response illustrating a completely unhelpful surgery. Also, and unknown to the person handling the call because she failed to understand the situation fully or actually understand the issues at all, the medical practice I am with in London is also a considerable distance from my place of work and in the opposite direction to my home, that is the reason I want to register with my local practice.
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