NHS England to ban GPs from advertising private services

NHS England to ban GPs from advertising private services Move seeks to prevent further ‘blurring’ of divide between NHS-funded and private care

GPs are being banned from advertising private healthcare services in their surgeries and from allowing for-profit family doctor firms to offer care there, amid growing concern that it is prompting patients to pay for treatments that they could receive for free.

The move by NHS England is intended to stop the divide between NHS-funded and privately paid-for GP care becoming ever more “blurred”. It will stop GP practices from charging patients to see a doctor more quickly or for other services that under the NHS should be free. But it will allow them to keep seeking fees for signing passports, providing medical reports for insurance or other purposes, or for physiotherapy. The Guardian