Spouse visa-medical treatment in the UK question

Hello !

I am a US citizen and my sponsor is a UK citizen and I am working on my spouse visa.

When I was visiting my then fiancé this summer (not on any visa while visiting) I had to get a prescription refill on an existing medication. This required I be seen by a GP who could write a local prescription so I could get my medication at a local pharmacy.

Is this considered receiving medical treatment in the UK for the spouse visa question 6.17 - Have you ever received medical treatment in the UK?

If so, then for question 6.18 -Did you have to pay for treatment ? Would I answer "yes" since I paid for my prescription at the local pharmacy ?

I was not issued an NHS number. I don't think as a visitor I was eligible for an NHS number anyway ?

Thank you for any help with this section !




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Is this considered receiving medical treatment in the UK for the spouse visa question 6.17 - Have you ever received medical treatment in the UK?

If so, then for question 6.18 -Did you have to pay for treatment ? Would I answer "yes" since I paid for my prescription at the local pharmacy ?

The answer is yes to 6.17, because you visited a GP and you also received a prescription.

You should have paid for both of these (or at least attempted to pay for the GP visit) and you must declare the treatment on the form.

How much did you pay for the prescription? You were not eligible to pay the subsidised £8.40 prescription charge so you should have paid the full price for the medication.

Also, did you have health/travel insurance during your visit? If not, you should have been charged 150% of the fee for both the GP visit and for the prescription.

If you didn't get a bill, you will need to contact the GP and get a bill from them, then include the payment receipt with your application. If they insist that you didn't need to pay, you will need to include a letter from them confirming this.

If you have more than £500 of unpaid NHS debt, it will be an automatic visa refusal, so this is pretty important to get sorted out (not that a GP visit and prescription should be more than £500 though).

Ksand24 thank you for the info. I definitely need to sort this out, starting with a bill for the GP visit. How do I handle paying the full price for medication, do I contact the pharmacy? I had US health insurance at the time. I'm getting a little worried about all this...sigh...


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Talk to the GP first and see if they can guide you on the Rx.

It's nothing to worry about.  It'll take a bit of time to sort out but it would take a LOT longer if you had UKVI dig into it.   

Initial GP visits are, according to all sources I could find, in fact still free for visitors:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/uk-visitors/Pages/access-services-in-England.aspx

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-overseas-visitors-hospital-charging-regulations/summary-of-changes-made-to-the-way-the-nhs-charges-overseas-visitors-for-nhs-hospital-care

I think the advice often offered here that a visitor should go ahead and pay for them stems from the suspicion, perhaps merited, that GPs or UKVI may, due to confusion from ever-changing requirements, mistakenly see payment as due.   

I would not disagree with them that just paying for the visit might prevent a heck of a lot of confusion later on. It is a shame though.
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How much did you pay for the prescription? You were not eligible to pay the subsidised £8.40 prescription charge so you should have paid the full price for the medication.

Also, did you have health/travel insurance during your visit? If not, you should have been charged 150% of the fee for both the GP visit and for the prescription.

I wonder if it it might be easier to go the chemist, pay the correct price and get a receipt?

Under the rules changes for the NHS that started from 6 April 2015 under the Immigration Act 2014, the GP consultation bit is free, but treatment, medication, tests etc have to be paid for. Before that date, the GPs could choose if they wanted to charge or not for the consultaion and any treatment they gave in their surgery. It won't hurt to get a letter from the GP too though.

But.......with England saying back in the 2015 that they were going to stop this free  limited access to their NHS, free ambulance, free treatment in A&E etc because not all countries give this for free to Brits: and with the consultation they ran this year on this, it could mean that soon everything would have to be paid for if you use England's NHS. Something to watch out for.

Thank you so very much for everyone's input and time looking into this question.
My plan is to pay for the GP visit and for the prescription. Since I had personal US health insurance at the time of service, which never came into play at the time of service, should I look to pay 100% or 150% of the fee for both the GP and prescription? I want to make sure I do this right and have the proper receipts.


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As others have said, the GP visit may well have been free anyway - however, I would contact them to ask, and if they say it's free, then ask if they can write a letter confirming this, for you to include in your application.

In regards to the prescription, if you had travel insurance at the time, you should only have paid 100% of the cost, so if you have proof that you held the insurance at the time, you shouldn't have to pay more than the regular cost now (100%).

As others have said, the GP visit may well have been free anyway - however, I would contact them to ask, and if they say it's free, then ask if they can write a letter confirming this, for you to include in your application.

In regards to the prescription, if you had travel insurance at the time, you should only have paid 100% of the cost, so if you have proof that you held the insurance at the time, you shouldn't have to pay more than the regular cost now (100%).

Ksands24 thanks again! . Do I need to include in my application proof of my US health insurance I had at the time? Or just for the GP and prescription billing part when I contact them?


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Not quite the same question, but I have a related one.

When I was in the UK on a spouse visa in 2011 or 2012, I know I did register at a GP, got an NHS number and may have received some kind of treatment for a difficult cold or similar, but I don't remember if I actually did go to the GP. If I had received treatment, I wouldn't have had to pay since I was then covered on the NHS.

I can't remember my NHS number and it doesn't seem to be in the records that I saved.

I'm not sure how to answer the question. Should I say I may have received treatment, but did not need to pay for it and explain in my cover letter? Is it worth me trying to call the surgery I was registered with to find out about my treatment history?

Mostly, I just don't want my application to be rejected because I misremembered something and it turns out I did receive a treatment, even though I was entitled to receive it for no cost!

Ksands24 thanks again! . Do I need to include in my application proof of my US health insurance I had at the time? Or just for the GP and prescription billing part when I contact them?

Not sure, I'm afraid.

I'm not sure how to answer the question. Should I say I may have received treatment, but did not need to pay for it and explain in my cover letter? Is it worth me trying to call the surgery I was registered with to find out about my treatment history?

Yes - I would just call the surgery, ask for your NHS number and see if they have any records of you visiting.

If they don't have any records of treatment, then you can just provide the NHS number and state in the application that you were registered, but you can't recall if you used the NHS or not, however, as you were on a spousal visa, you were eligible for free treatment anyway.

UPDATE...not sure what else I can do...

1) I called the health care center where I was seen and the accounting department said the GP entered my visit into the system with no charge. The accounting person sent me a very short email stating I have no outstanding balance. No other details.

I asked the accounting person about the prescription charges and he sad their health center is a separate entity from the pharmacies and I would need to speak to the pharmacy.

2) I called the pharmacy and spoke to the manager and explained the situation. I was told they are not legally authorized to charge any amount above the 8.40 pounds for prescriptions. His advice was to call the GP or NHS business services.

3) I called NHS business services and explained the prescription costs and I was told they do not handle out of the ordinary patient charges. Their advice was to call the GP or the local Clinical Commissioning Group for my area

4) I called the local Clinical Commissioning Group and explained the prescription costs and they said they do not deal with patient invoices, they are a management office. They directed me to call the GP.

So I've gone full circle and I am not sure what else to do regarding the prescription costs. The NHS website for visitors discusses charges for treatment at hospitals and has a statement stating everyone has to pay the prescription co-payment. I can't find any definite wording on prescription costs being different for visitors.

Any comments or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated ! Thank you for reading my lengthy update. Maybe it can help others.


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UPDATE...not sure what else I can do...

1) I called the health care center where I was seen and the accounting department said the GP entered my visit into the system with no charge. The accounting person sent me a very short email stating I have no outstanding balance. No other details.

I asked the accounting person about the prescription charges and he sad their health center is a separate entity from the pharmacies and I would need to speak to the pharmacy.

2) I called the pharmacy and spoke to the manager and explained the situation. I was told they are not legally authorized to charge any amount above the 8.40 pounds for prescriptions. His advice was to call the GP or NHS business services.

3) I called NHS business services and explained the prescription costs and I was told they do not handle out of the ordinary patient charges. Their advice was to call the GP or the local Clinical Commissioning Group for my area

4) I called the local Clinical Commissioning Group and explained the prescription costs and they said they do not deal with patient invoices, they are a management office. They directed me to call the GP.

So I've gone full circle and I am not sure what else to do regarding the prescription costs. The NHS website for visitors discusses charges for treatment at hospitals and has a statement stating everyone has to pay the prescription co-payment. I can't find any definite wording on prescription costs being different for visitors.

Any comments or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated ! Thank you for reading my lengthy update. Maybe it can help others.


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That's weird about the pharmacy... I had to pay the actual cost for a prescription when I was over visiting in 2013. You might try calling back and speaking with someone else. Not every employee knows what they're talking about. That's for sure.

I hope you get this all worked out!

You can ask them what the cost would be if it was a private prescription written by by a private doctor - non NHS doctor. They will have a list of drug costs.

That's weird about the pharmacy... I had to pay the actual cost for a prescription when I was over visiting in 2013. You might try calling back and speaking with someone else. Not every employee knows what they're talking about. That's for sure.

I also think it is the pharmacy that should have billed at the visitor (non NHS) price.

Is the pharmacy one of the big chains? If it is, could you email their CEO/Mananging Director? That usually gets a swift reply.

If it was Boots it seems to be
elizabeth.fagan@wba.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_UK