![\"Houseboat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/boat_gp_.jpeg\"\/)
Play Brightcove video<\/p>\nPlay Brightcove video<\/p>\n
While living on a canal boat can offer freedom and affordability, many boat dwellers in London struggle to register with a GP because they lack a fixed address, according to the the National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA). <\/p>\n
NHS guidance states that people do not need proof of address to register with a GP practice. However, campaigners say those living on boats with no permanent mooring and others without addresses often encounter difficulties.<\/p>\n
Canal boat owner Camille Tsang had been registered with a GP surgery near her office in Colindale, North London, where she has worked for more than 10 years.<\/p>\n
In September 2024, she received a letter from Colindale Medical Centre informing her that she had been removed from their patient list and advising her to register with a local GP.<\/p>\n
Despite working and paying regular National Insurance contributions, Camille says she has been fighting to access a GP ever since.<\/p>\n
“The problem is I don’t have a catchment area,” she said. “There’s no safety net for me. If I were to get sick for more than a week and needed a sick note, I wouldn’t be able to get one.”<\/p>\n
Camille raised the issue with her local NHS care board and later took her complaint to the Parliamentary Health and Service Ombudsman. <\/p>\n
Marcus Trower, secretary of the NBTA, said this is a common issue for boat dwellers.<\/p>\n
He is calling for harsher repercussions for GP practices that refuse to register patients without a fixed address.<\/p>\n
“There needs to be some kind of consequences for GPs denying somebody healthcare,” he said. “Surely we should all be able to access healthcare.”<\/p>\n
Sarah McIlwaine, Director of Primary Care, NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board said: “We understand how important it is to be able to access health and care services. <\/p>\n
“We sincerely apologise for the significant delay Ms. Tsang has experienced in resolving this and understand how worrying and frustrating this must have been.<\/p>\n
Colindale Medical Centre is contacting Ms. Tsang as a matter of urgency to begin the registration process and we will continue to monitor this case closely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know… <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Play Brightcove video While living on a canal boat can offer freedom and affordability, many boat dwellers in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-475131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}