Could not register at GP with settlement/spouse visa

Went to the GP and after filling out the form they asked for my passport and proof of address. I provided my employer contract and passport .... They spent 5 minutes in the back photocopying my stuff and then tell me after that I need to be living in the country for 6 months to register.

I thought people with a spouse visa are entitled to NHS?

I registered with my gp my first week in the UK! Just goes to show how the NHS really is governed by whatever that area feels like doing at the time instead of actual rules. Hopefully someone can come along and help soon.

I registered within days of my arrival; politely ask THEM to provide a copy of the regulation they are supposedly 'following'......and if they get snippy, call the relevant NHS Trust, and perhaps ask that they send you confirmation that you are eligible to register.

Or....find another practice if it's convenient for you.

Did they specify whether that was NHS policy or the GP policy? Either, way, if you don't want to just try a different surgery, I would print out this page and take it to try again: http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1087.aspx?categoryid=68&subcategoryid=162

According to this:

Under current rules anyone can register with a GP practice in England and receive free primary care. A GP practice can only refuse an application to join its list of NHS patients where it has reasonable grounds for doing so: for example, if their lists are closed to new patients, the applicant lives in a different practice's boundary area, or in other rare circumstances.

If it's the surgery's policy, I still wouldn't say that a general six-month rule constitutes a reasonable ground in itself. You could ask if they have a good reason for it.

A surgery cannot have a policy to refuse care solely to migrants. The surgery was wrong not to register you. I would try again or try a different surgery.

Thanks for the response. I told them to give me my photocopies back as well! Cheeky buggers.


I called now and spoke to a different person and she said call back to speak to the practice manager. She said these are rules we have gotten from management on telling people to wait 6 months. She also told me that she works at 3 different medical centres and they all have different rules!!

There is no rule to say that you must have been in the UK for 6 months. With a fiancé or spousal visa you are entitle to NHS care from day one. There may be rules for EEA citizens having to live in the UK for 6 months in order to prevent them from just coming to the UK to use the NHS for free, but if these rules do exist, they do not apply to settlement visa holders.

Unfortunately there are many GP receptionists around the UK who have the misconception that you have to live in the UK for 6 months before you can register and there are many people here on the forum who have had trouble registering in the past. You either need to print off the official information from the NHS website and show it to them, or otherwise find a different GP who will register you.

Last year I went to a clinic and on a new patient form it asked if I had been in the UK less than 6 months or something. I had been in the UK only a few months at the time so that's what I wrote but then I asked the nurse what I should put. She asked me a few questions and when she found out I was on a spouse visa she crossed it out and told me not to even worry about it.

Maybe she was just saving herself some paperwork, but there was  a bit on the form about a 6-month rule. Probably regarding EU citizens as ksand said.

On a spouse visa you can use the NHS. That's for sure. 

There is no rule to say that you must have been in the UK for 6 months. With a fiancé or  spousal visa you are entitle to NHS care from day one. There may be rules for EEA citizens having to live in the UK for 6 months in order to prevent them from just coming to the UK to use the NHS for free, but if these rules do exist, they do not apply to settlement visa holders.

Unfortunately there are many GP receptionists around the UK who have the misconception that you have to live in the UK for 6 months before you can register and there are many people here on the forum who have had trouble registering in the past. You either need to print off the official information from the NHS website and show it to them, or otherwise find a different GP who will register you.

Hi ksand 

You are right. After speaking to the practice manager she said because you are outside the EEA you have to wait 6 months. She also said she was not aware of the rule on the NHS website stating I am entitled. She then said you should go to a different office!

She was awful...

Hi ksand 

You are right. After speaking to the practice manager she said because you are outside the EEA you have to wait 6 months. She also said she was not aware of the rule on the NHS website stating I am entitled. She then said you should go to a different office!

She was awful...

Please complain to your local PALS office about this. Things like this can't get better unless local trusts are aware.

Please complain to your local PALS office about this. Things like this can't get better unless local trusts are aware.

Absolutely.

I've noticed that those self check-in machines at our surgery and at hospitals ask if you've been in the country for the last six months. (I am officially registered with our GP and always state that I am Irish)  For the heck of it I put in "no" and it told me to go to the receptionist (who looked totally unhelpful) so I started over and put in "yes" and it accepted me. 

I was just told the same thing because my spousal visa is stamped "No Recourse to public funds" is this correct? Or should I try and see someone else? I'm so confused!

I was just told the same thing because my spousal visa is stamped "No Recourse to public funds" is this correct? Or should I try and see someone else? I'm so confused!

No, it's not correct. NHS is not classed as public funds anyway... So there is no reason for you to be refused based on that.

You are entitled to NHS treatment, so you can either try again, or try registering at a different GP surgery.

Ksand24 I just rang the office to speak to the secretary about the link "Am I entitled to NHS treatment" and she referred me to some registration office saying that it is indeed public funds. Can I ask what NHS is so that I can discuss this with her? She said she will ring tomorrow because she was on her way home.

She wants something in writing because she's been told that I do not qualify based on my passport. When I explained that the link above was in writing she said she needed it from the registration office.

Thank you!