Urgent care?

Hello,

I'm new, so forgive me if etiquette is a bit off here. My husband and I currently live in Seattle and work for a big global company. We're being offered relocation to the UK, and I've been trying to read up on medical care and all other aspects of life before me make our decision.
Our company offers private insurance in the UK. I am curious as to how urgently you can be seen with this and/or in conjunction with national healthcare. From what I can gather, there is an A&E, which is like a US emergency room, or there is your GP, which from what it sounds like can take a while to get an appointment.
The reason I ask is that I get horribly bad UTIs a couple of times a year. In the US, I am able to get a same-day appointment with my doctor and get it taken care of before it gets really bad. Would this type of thing be as much of a cinch to take care of in the UK? How would one usually go about it? (Seems like you have to register with a GP right from the get-go, rather than just going to any doctor that's covered by insurance?)

Thank you for any and all info!

Some GP surgeries reserve some appointments each day for more urgent appointments so you can be seen on the day (well, okay, mine does anyway!) 

In England, you also have walk in centres which you don't need an appointment for, so handy if you can't get in to see the GP.

You do register for a specific surgery as soon as you get here- GP practices have geographic catchment areas they work to so you'd need to register with one that covers your address.  Many surgeries won't give you an appointment until you're fully registered which can take a few days as they need to liaise with the local NHS trust to get you on their books, so you don't want to wait until you're sick to register.

My GP's surgery is required to see you within 24 hours of asking for an appointment.  I don't know if this applies everywhere in the UK or just my NHS district (York). I imagine it would depend on the population. However, they are only open on weekdays during the day. There is also a walk-in clinic here if you need to see a doctor when your GP is closed. You can also call NHS Direct phone line 24/7.

As in the US, in a real emergency you would go to the hospital.

It also depends on the surgery - my local one ONLY has those "urgent" appointments at the very beginning of the day, and you have to phone at 8:30am on the nose to even get one.  Last time I had a UTI, I used a Walk-In Centre, which is basically like Minor Emergency - most are open 24/7 or at least longer hours than a doctor's surgery.  If you were really desperate and all local Walk-In Centres were closed, you can always go to the local hospital's ER...however, these tend to have HUGELY LONG waiting periods.  My husband recently had to wait 9 hours from walking in the door to leaving when he felt ill at work (threw up blood, so while not URGENT, it was still serious).  In retrospect, he definitely should've gone to the Walk-In Centre .

There are Walk In Centres all around the country, my husband recently had an abscess on his bum and he is still having to have it packed every day, he goes to the walk in centre and he is usually in and out within 30 minutes. Its a fantastic service. Also, my doctor has an out of office service and they send you to a local out of hours doctors office, who will see you within an hour or two. I have no idea about how it works with private health care, but on the NHS in my area, we can almost always see a doctor within 2-3 hours, WITHOUT going to an Emergency Room.

Also, a local smaller hospital has what they call a "non-emergency room" thats open 8-8 everyday, they guarantee you will be in and out within an hour, its great if you have kids.

Yes, I think the horror stories may be getting to you about the NHS. Particularly for urgent care, it is quite easy to be seen. I expect your private health insurance won't come into that at all.

As mentioned above, depending upon where you live and what your local surgery's practice does, you will have a variety of options for care. I live in a very rural area now, but when I lived in Exeter, the GP had normal hours with urgent cases seen in reserved slots throughout the day. They also had a doctor 'on-call' all day who would phone you at home. After hours, they had a special out of hours centre. It was based at the hospital but not part of the ER or anything. I used it once after my second son was born and we were in and out within an hour. There is also NHS Direct which is a phone number you can ring for advice.

Some Americans seem to have a bit of trouble getting registered with a GP here but it shouldn't be a problem. 

I'm not sure who your private insurer will be, but they all work roughly the same here. They are meant for treatment of accute but not chronic conditions. That said, your employer may have a bespoke (custom) plan where they can pretty much agree whatever they want. For example, most private insurance here does NOT cover pre-existing conditions (i.e. your UTIs). BUT your employer *may* have an agreement with them that allows for them. So make sure you find out what exactly their plan covers.

That said, I suspect you would not have a problem getting good treatment for your UTIs here on the NHS. Though I'd suspect they'd want to know why you keep getting them. So if you've been thoroughly investigated in the US, you might want to bring your medical notes with you.

HTH!

I never have a problem getting an appointment for urgent care and even when its not urgent i get into see a Dr or Nurse at my local surgery within a day or two. The problems Ive faced getting an appointment were to see a specialist for things that were seen as non-urgent, in that case your private healthcare will probably help alot. Best of luck 

I also forgot to mention the fantastic NHS Direct, you can call them 24 hour a day, they can give medical advice and if need be, make an appointment ahead of time for you at a hospital if its an emergency.

I could always get into my doctor either the same day or the next day.  It was easier to get in to see my GP in London than my GP in the US!

Wow, thanks for all of your replies!

Sounds like UK healthcare is actually way ahead of US! You've soothed my worries!

There aren't any urgent care centres near me at all. 

And if you want a same day appointment you have to physically go and line up at the GP's at 7:30 am before the doors open.  It is ok if you feel well enough to line up, but I don't know what happens if you aren't. 

There aren't any urgent care centres near me at all. 

And if you want a same day appointment you have to physically go and line up at the GP's at 7:30 am before the doors open.  It is ok if you feel well enough to line up, but I don't know what happens if you aren't. 

Sadly, there is a bit of a postcode lottery with care. I'd like to think that what bookgrl deals with is not the norm. I've lived in no less than 7 different trusts (catchment areas) from north to south and never experienced any trouble with urgent care. That said, I'm on a 10 week waiting list for physio in Cumbria, but would have been seen within 4 in Devon.

There aren't any urgent care centres near me at all. 

And if you want a same day appointment you have to physically go and line up at the GP's at 7:30 am before the doors open.  It is ok if you feel well enough to line up, but I don't know what happens if you aren't. 

Interesting. Is this more of a norm in rural areas? We'd be living pretty right outside of London.

I am right outside Cambridge.  I'd be extra mad if I were paying what we pay for housing and living in a rural area.

But, I just wanted to say all the GP's at the office are really nice.  I even got a follow up letter for something they misdiagnosed (it wasn't there fault, honest mistake).