Health care as a visitor to the UK?

My mom's coming to stay for the whole summer (June-Aug, since she's a teacher), and she's worrying what would happen if she got sick while she's here.

I told her to a) get travel insurance with good medical coverage and b) make sure she has plenty of prescription meds to last her through before she leaves, but apart from that, I'm not really sure how it'd work if she got ill....?

So, if she got an infection or something and needed to visit a GP, or indeed, twisted an ankle and needed A&E, how would it work? Would they treat her, send a bill to her US address, and she'd she'd get refunded by her US travel/medical insurance? Or would she have to pay on the spot in the UK somehow?

Having always had NHS coverage during my time here (first as a student, then working), I'm a bit ignorant about how it works if you don't...

Emergency NHS care is free for visitors, but if she needs any non-emergency care she will need to pay for it. I think they way that travel insurance works is that she will need to pay upfront and then claim it back through her travel insurance company (not entirely sure because in over 20 years of travelling, I have never actually claimed anything on travel insurance!).

You can have a look here for more information about what she is entitled to free and what she has to pay for. I'm not too sure what kind of costs she'd be looking at for non-emergency care though.

My sister came for a visit last year and got a sinus infection while she was here.  We went to a walk-in clinic in North London.  She was seen by a doctor and given antibiotics without having to pay anything.  They didn't seem concerned with her being American at all.  It was easy.

Ahh, thanks for that, everyone! That should put her worries to rest, and allow her to focus her nervous energy elsewhere!

I saw sick here as a visitor.  I paid upfront and then had to claim back when I returned to the US.  It was 60.00 for the doctors and 7.50 for the antibiotics. 

csa travel is the company i've always taken out insurance with.  they've been really good-- i was hit by a bus when i was in the uk and my emergency care was free, but i called csa when i was back just to make sure things were in order in case i ended up with a bill, and they even told me i could get reimbursed for any money spent in the us as a result of follow-up care for the accident. 

i'd advise taking out a policy for extreme emergencies (surgery, etc).  also, in the past, my doctor has given me an antibiotics prescription for me to carry on trips in case i did get sick while in another country and couldn't easily get into a doctor. 

csa travel is the company i've always taken out insurance with.  they've been really good-- i was hit by a bus when i was in the uk and my emergency care was free, but i called csa when i was back just to make sure things were in order in case i ended up with a bill, and they even told me i could get reimbursed for any money spent in the us as a result of follow-up care for the accident. 

i'd advise taking out a policy for extreme emergencies (surgery, etc).  also, in the past, my doctor has given me an antibiotics prescription for me to carry on trips in case i did get sick while in another country and couldn't easily get into a doctor. 

I'm sorry, did you just say you were hit... BY A BUS? 

I would think it should be free -- being hit by a BUS!!
My mum once fell in a hole in a London street (somewhere in Kensington I think it was) and badly twisted her ankle.  She was on her way home the next day.  She hobbled back to her hotel and, instead of sending her to A&E they sent her to a GP around the corner who just strapped it up.  She paid a small fee.  When she got back to the US it was still bothering her so she went to local hospital and they were horrified that it hadn't even been x-rayed.  She had to have all kinds of stuff done to it.  There was an ongoing correspondence with various bodies in London over the facts they hadn't adequately marked their road works, the hotel hadn't advised her properly and the doctor hadn't sent her for x-rays.
One thing to be wary of for older relatives visiting is that Medicare does not cover anything overseas.

I'm sorry, did you just say you were hit... BY A BUS?

yep, hit by a city bus on the mean streets of cambridge!  actually, i should say the mean sidewalks of cambridge, given that i was walking on the sidewalk at the time!  luckily, the bus didn't come all the way onto the sidewalk and only the right side of my body was hit.  i was very lucky not to have anything horribly wrong-- the joints in my elbow make this weird clicking when i straighten my arm out still, but there's no pain associated with it and after having xrays and seeing doctors in both the uk and us, they've all told me not to worry about the clicking unless it starts hurting.  it still freaks me out a bit whenever i notice it though

I would think it should be free -- being hit by a BUS!!

Let's just clarify what a visitor to the UK is entitled to, as regards the NHS. This is best shown by illustration :-

• Someone is hit by a bus ..... an ambulance is called ..... the person is treated at the scene by the paramedics ..... FREE
• The person is transported to hospital in the ambulance .... FREE
• The person is treated at the hospital in the A&E department .... FREE
• The person needs to be moved to theatre and/or ward for further treatment .... NOT FREE

In other words, just when it starts to get really expensive, treatment would not be free. But such cost would invariably be covered by a Travel Insurance policy.

Being hit by a bus? That in itself would not make the treatment free. It might give rise to a legal claim against the bus company/driver, but even that is subject to the actual facts of the case. For example, and this is not a comment upon the person posting earlier in this topic, if someone steps out in the road immediately in front of a moving bus, and thus gets hit, they would hardly be likely to succeed in any legal action.

Being hit by a bus? That in itself would not make the treatment free. It might give rise to a legal claim against the bus company/driver, but even that is subject to the actual facts of the case. For example, and this is not a comment upon the person posting earlier in this topic, if someone steps out in the road immediately in front of a moving bus, and thus gets hit, they would hardly be likely to succeed in any legal action.

I was being facetious!   

Yes, I realised that, but thought it was pursuing the illustration. Why? Because it does show that visits to hospital are often not planned at all, and why Travel Insurance is such a good idea.

Also, I got this mental picture! Someone newly arrived from the US, literally looking the wrong way down the road, before stepping out into the road. Hopefully that does not happen very often, bit I am sure it does.

Personal experience ... when driving in France .... when approaching a roundabout, in particular ... I have to think consciously about which way to go round it ... at least for the first couple of days in France.