registering with the NHS

re the 6 month eligibilty tale - sounds like a crock of **** to me!

I do know, from GP friends in the UK, that NHS medical practices here only get funding from the local health authority for new patients after 6 months, so practices are generally only interested in people who are going to stay 'on their books'.  So, I would recommend that whenever anyone tries to register with a GP, tell the practice that you have a job here/are married/own a house/have a long lease/etc etc, so they don't think you're going to move on in a few months ....

Doctors here will take anyone as a private patient, and unless there is no space at the surgery will take anyone who is in there area on I think it used to be 7 miles as the crow fly's so my old doctor told me.

Chris is going to take out some private health care when he comes to live over here but he and anyone on a spouse visa can get NHS treatment also.

Chris has registered at my doctors who are fantastic, Chris is disabled and they treat him really well infact when we go even for one of the boy's they know him and recognize him before me and I have been with the surgery for almost 10 years, We have never had a problem and they where willing to see Chris or myself or the children at the drop of a hat as soon as I tell them who we are.

I will be leaving for Glasgow in about 7 weeks.  How does one go about getting prescriptions refilled?  Do I need a paper script from my doc, or will the empty containers with the prescription label do?  Does one pay for prescriptions?

The more I do to prepare for my trip, the more there is to do.  Thanks guys!

Lady
You have to pay to use the NHS on a visitor visa.  The chemist will not honour a foreign prescription, so you'd need to pay to see a GP and ask him/her to write a script.  And yes, you must pay for your prescriptions here.

Thank you expat in Scotland for your information.  Now I know. 

Prescriptions are free for people who are low-income (AND entitled to use public funds), children under 16 and for some people with certain chronic conditions.  Everyone else has to pay, tho.

Prescriptions are free for people who are low-income (AND entitled to use public funds), children under 16 and for some people with certain chronic conditions.  Everyone else has to pay, tho.

Its also free while your pregnant and 1 year after the babys birth... If I'm not wrong

Yes that's right  (and so is dental treatment).

and so is dental treatment.

yep.  the problem is finding it. 

Its also free while your pregnant and 1 year after the babys birth... If I'm not wrong

Yes your are right, anyone on tax credits and income support get free perscriptions to, but if you are from the states you can not get tax credits or be put on them even if your partner has it there name.

anyone on tax credits and income support get free perscriptions to, but if you are from the states you can not get tax credits or be put on them even if your partner has it there name.

not necessarily.  free prescrips for those who qualify for working tax credit (WTC), which ladypriest would be ineligible for. 

Yes your are right, anyone on tax credits and income support get free perscriptions to, but if you are from the states you can not get tax credits or be put on them even if your partner has it there name.

If you're eligible for this via tax credits, they send you a card. Sorry, couples receive tax credits as a couple, you must apply as a couple, and to apply you need a NI number. That was my experience, but perhaps different as it involved child tax credits too.

If you're eligible for this via tax credits, they send you a card. Sorry, couples receive tax credits as a couple, you must apply as a couple, and to apply you need a NI number. That was my experience, but perhaps different as it involved child tax credits too.

no, you're right, leah.  when i first got here, DH had to renew his application for what is now called working tax credit.  i fell pregnant weeks after receiving my FLR, and then no one wanted to hire me - especially b/c i was vomitting nearly constantly - so i had no NI number.  we had to go to DSS and get an interview for them to give me one, even tho the credit was for him, b/c we were a couple and thus had to apply as one.

So I went to my local surgery about 3 months ago and told them I wanted to register with the NHS, since I just moved to the country.  I filled-out their little form and had the "exam" (or more like an interview) with the staff nurse.  I was expecting I'd receive my NHS card with my NHS number by now.  So I called the surgery, and they said they have nothing to do with registering with the NHS, and I'd have to call my local Health Authority.  So I called, and they asked if I had been to my local GP to register.  Yes, I have.  They can't find me in their system.  The guy at the Health Authority suggests that perhaps the local surgery entered me into the system as a "temporary patient" in error, in which case my details wouldn't have transmitted to the Health Authority.  So I call the surgery back.  What do they say?  They have no idea why the Health Authority can't see my info--I'm in the system.  All this coupled with the fact that I would like to change my records over to my married name.  Yeah, I'll be waiting another 3 months for that, I think.  Grrrr!

Update on my saga with the NHS.  I finally called the health authority after being shuttled back and forth:  the local surgeries wouldn't register us, and referred us back to the health authority who referred us back to the surgeries etc..  I finally asked to speak to a supervisor who in the end, looked after the whole thing for us.  We have a GP and less than two weeks later, we received our NHS cards in the mail.  We have interviews at the clinic on Tuesday.  let the health care begin!! 

P.S.  Even though the health authority insists that there is a six month wait for NHS coverage, they have yet to produce any documentation.  Even the supervisor couldn't give us documentation, as he referred us to a web page that had not one word about the six month wait.  There is nothing on the Department of Health website either, nor in the documentation we received about the NHS with our visa approval paperwork.  I'll keep trying for confirmation.