Temporary Registration

If you are ill while away from home or if you are not registered with a doctor but need to see one you can receive emergency treatment from the local GP practice for 14 days. After 14 days you will need to register as a temporary or permanent patient.  Under The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2018, a person is regarded as temporarily resident in a place if, when the person arrives in that place, the person intends to stay there for more than 24 hours but not more than three months. 

You can be registered as a temporary patient for up to three months. This will allow you to be on the local practice list and still remain a patient of your permanent GP.

To register as a temporary patient simply contact the local practice you wish to use. Practices do not have to accept you as a temporary patient although they do have an obligation to offer emergency treatment. You cannot register as a temporary patient at a practice in the town or area where you are already registered.

Download the Temporary Resident Registration Form