Patterns of Patient Registration with Primary Health Care in the UK National Health Service

The UK National Health Service (NHS) is a long-established universal provider of health care. Most primary care is delivered by general practitioner (GP)-run health centers (surgeries) that, subject to proposed policy changes, are increasingly central to the welfare geographies of the NHS. This article develops an analysis of a unique and hitherto underexploited data set, comparing the observed pattern of patient registrations at GP surgeries with an optimum geographic pattern in the London borough of Southwark. In addition to evaluation of the level of geographic order that arises in a locally administered, centralized system of health care provision, we also use a new and innovative ethnicity classification tool to assess the ethnic dimensions to deviations from the normative arrangement. These results are considered in light of current and recent initiatives regarding patient choice in the United Kingdom.