News GP registration tool cuts paperwork, reduces costs and improves patient data 1 June 2026 Share Share on Linkedin Share on X Share via email News Digital, Data & AI Independent evaluation An independent evaluation has shown GP registration tool Healthtech-1 delivers operational efficiencies, greater accuracy and economic value to health systems. At scale, it has the potential to release staff time, strengthen population health management, and support more proactive, preventative care. Challenge Registering a patient with a GP is often a manual, time-intensive process. Practice administrators typically input information from standard forms into electronic patient record systems, taking around 15 minutes per registration. This approach creates several challenges: High administrative workload for practice staff Limited data captured at registration Variability in the completeness and quality of patient records Lost opportunities to identify risk factors early and to intervene proactively Pressures on primary care mean that staff time is increasingly stretched. The system requires more efficient ways of managing demand and delivering care. Approach Healthtech-1 automates the GP registration process by generating and completing patient profiles directly within clinical systems. It combines the standard registration form with a customisable local form, enabling the capture of a wider range of patient data. Key features include: Automated creation of patient records, reducing the need for manual data entry Structured capture of additional patient information Automatic SNOMED coding to improve data consistency ‘Signals’ functionality to alert staff to safeguarding concerns or health risks Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex supported the evaluation of this part of the Surrey Heartlands ICB primary care testbeds programme, where Surrey Heartlands ICB* funded the automation of new patient registrations for all its GP practices for a 12-month period. The evaluation by Unity Insights drew from EMIS data to analyse patient records, appointments and care delivery. Information was pseudonymised, which means personal details like names and NHS numbers were replaced with unique codes so individuals could not be directly identified. Data was collected from 15 participating GP sites and included quantitative and health economic analysis of the technology’s impact on coding, workflow, and system value. * NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB and NHS Sussex ICB merged on 1 April 2026 to form the new NHS Surrey and Sussex ICB. Impact Saving time and reducing workload Some 97% of Healthtech-1 registrations were automated, with 85% completed without the help of an administrator, significantly reducing the administrative burden on practice staff. For registrations that still required input, an average of nine minutes was saved per registration. Arif Ladha, Practice Business Manager for The Integrated Care Partnership – “Managing registrations across four branches used to be incredibly time-consuming. Since introducing Healthtech‑1, around 95% of our registrations are automated. The customisable form captures everything we need first time, cutting out manual data entry and reducing patient follow‑up, which frees up staff capacity for other priorities.” Improving data quality and enabling proactive care The technology significantly improves the completeness of structured clinical data at the point of registration. For example: Ethnicity coding increased from 23.8% to 96.4% Alcohol screening coding increased from 24.0% to 75.9% This richer dataset enables health and care teams to identify risk factors earlier, segment populations more effectively, deliver targeted interventions and preventative care. Lesley Cushen, Operations Manager, The Grove Medical Centre (Surrey) – “We have found this system to be extremely efficient and valuable to our workflow. Its automated coding capabilities have significantly reduced manual effort, saving our team considerable hours while improving overall productivity. It has become an important tool in enhancing both efficiency and operational performance.” Delivering economic value The evaluation found consistent positive returns across all modelled scenarios over a five-year period: £65k value for selected sites in Surrey (£1.48 for every £1 invested) £287k if adopted across all Surrey GP practices (£1.48 for every £1 invested) £679k if rolled out across Surrey and Sussex (£1.58 for every £1 invested These benefits are driven primarily by administrative time savings, with additional potential gains from reduced A&E attendances and improved use of data. Supporting system-wide improvements Improved data capture strengthens population health management by enabling: Better identification of health inequalities More accurate risk stratification More effective targeting of preventative interventions In addition, more effective triaging of patients at the point of registration may support better use of clinical capacity and reduce unnecessary urgent care demand. Spread and scalability Uptake of new patient registration automation is high, with Healthtech-1 now in use in over 1,400 practices. Take-up of the offer within Surrey Heartlands was high at 92%, with nearly 90% of those practices choosing to self-fund beyond the initial 12- month period. The majority of Healthtech-1 users pay for it themselves, mostly at practice or PCN level. The practices we reviewed in Sussex were all self-pay. Evaluation findings suggest that benefits of automation of new patient registrations increase as the technology scales, particularly where adoption is coordinated across systems; licensing costs are optimised through scale; and data is used to inform population-level interventions. Widescale use of this type of automation across GP practices offers the potential to: Release significant administrative capacity Enhance data-driven decision making Strengthen preventative and proactive care at scale Download the report Read the full evaluation Download the infographic Project collaborators NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB – (now part of the newly formed Surrey and Sussex ICB) – Primary care testbed lead and evaluation partners. Unity Insights – Independent evaluation Office for Life Sciences – Programme commissioners Healthtech-1 – Technology provider Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex – Evaluation commissioners and project management Are you a health and care innovator? 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