A real simple question

How do you go about finding a doctor here?

If you know you need a specialist, do you need to see a GP first?

(I've been looking at the phone book, but it's pretty big.)

Oh, and we don't need a NHS doctor, if that makes any difference.

From my experience you would need to get a referral from your GP.

OK, and how do you get a GP?

(I'll start calling around tomorrow... but clues would be good.)

http://www.nhs.uk/England/Doctors/Default.aspx

Looks good so far!  Thanks!

you can see private a private gp if you want. i'm assuming you have private health insurance? if so, they prabably have guidelines for what to do. where I work, we accept referrals from private gps. if you've been a policy holder for 2 years you can go direct to a specialist assuming one will see you without the referral.

Yes, we have private insurance.  Not sure what the guidelines are; they're all in Japanese.  I think we just send the bills to them and they decide how much to cover....

Ah, I see! Well, then I'd guess either way is fine. It can't hurt to have a local NHS GP. At least that way you'll know you wont' have to pay for that regardless of what your insurance company says!

But, as I pointed out, some specialists don't require referrals. And just because your GP gives you one, doesn't even mean they know the specialist they nameor how good they are. They may just refer you to the closest one or the one their office always uses, etc. If you have the luxury of private insurance, you can probably do some research into who to see. Obviously, this is a great benefit if you need serious medical care.