NHS problems

Hi everyone..
My husband and i went to our local surgery to register for the national health service but were told that we will need a utility bill or bank statement . I have read several posts on this forum where members said all you had to do was provide I.D. but that appears not to be the case . Like everywhere else, we were told to provide the above mentioned items...has anyone one had similar experience ?

We are still in the process of waiting for the landlord to install a meter for the electricity because he converted the gas to electric system for the flat and did not get the meter installed before we moved in so it might be several weeks before he gets around to doing this.

any advice ?

thanks
Dez

I just finally got around to registering last week (I've used the University's health centre for the past year) and didn't get a single question aside from asking how long I'd lived in the area. I didn't have to provide anything at all to the surgery but rather they gave me the NHS form to fill out which only asked for the most basic information.... That's very strange that your surgery required proof of address - maybe they're really full and need to be sure you're registering at the closest one to your address? I know the one I went to only had two doctors (out of maybe 12) who were taking new patients - maybe if none of them had been they would have been more particular....

They probably need to see you live in their "area."  I would just try another surgery nearby if it looks like it's going to be a problem.

No advice on the meter but presumably if there's no meter then your electricity's free??

I also didnt need any ID or proof of address for my registration. Also I dont use a surgery in my area. We travel a few miles away to my husbands old surgery where he has been registered for his entire life. I know of someone else that actually got a lot of grief when she tried to register. I think each surgery must have its own registration policies.
Pebs

thanks for the inputs...yea the electricity is free for now..heheh but i wish lanlord would have hooked up the meter, since everything we do will depend on that bloody meter being installed , our whole life seems to be on hold until we are able to provide a utility bill to all the various agencys/companys .

Re: NHS situation, we thought about applying for voter registration but i would not qualify as a US citizen . My wife is EU national and she would qualify but it would leave me out of a joint account when attempting to open that dreaded cash card account .

Nothing will move without a utility bill in the UK it seems..

thanks
Zufan

What about the Council tax bill?

Hi Zufan - I also had to show no proof of living here, I just told them that I was here on my visa, and they registered me but told me to bring the documents around later, when I got them. From my experience though - at 4 different GPs... some are awesome (the one I have now) and some are Satan's Spawn (like the 3 others) - and they can't all seem to get the rules straight. And I can't tell you how many times we've pulled out a council tax bill (with both our names on) to get something!

BTW - I'm moving this to Healthcare and Insurance to see if you can get some more help on the situation...

thanks ya'll.