In 2019 GPs were paid around £150 on average for each patient on their list. In 2018 3.6 million more patients were registered in England than the population. The NHS Counter Fraud Authority is to investigate where registered patients have not visited their doctor for five years. Richard Vautrey said "Some of these will be people that have recently died, or left the country, others may be homeless or simply unaccounted for in government statistics, and we would be concerned at any suggestion that any discrepancies are down to wilful deception by hard-working GPs."