Returning to uk

[johnycarper]

Can someone help me to settle an argument as we have friends going back to the uk and we disagree about health cover.I though i was told that when you return if you have been out of the country for a while you are not covered in the uk for 6 months am i correct.If this is the case and you have been covered in France can you use the french system and claim it back until the uk one kicks in.

Thanks.

[powerdesal]

As far as I am aware, any British person returning to UK with the intention of taking up residence ( ie a 'returning resident' ) is fully covered by the NHS from day one. I may be wrong but that's how it was for us returning from many years overseas residence.

Presumably your friends still have their N.I. numbers and possibly NHS numbers, and will have a UK address.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="powerdesal"] Presumably your friends still have their N.I. numbers and possibly NHS numbers, and will have a UK address.[/quote]Even if they don't they will be able to get this information from the DHSS.

After returning to the UK after living in Sweden for 10 years I had no problem in immediately registering with an NHS doctor.

Edit: It may no longer the DHSS you need to contact but DWP. I t was over 20 years ago that I needed this info. I don't know why they have to keep changing the names of Gov depts unless it is to confuse old people like me[:D]

[AnOther]

PD is correct.

http://www.stockport-lmc.org.uk/simple%20guide%20to%20NHS%20entitlement.pdf

The 6 months qualifying period principally applies to non UK nationals.

Some trusts may be suspicious and reluctant to accept you back from day one (how do you prove that you have moved back to reside ?) but ultimately once they do anything you are required to pay should be reimbursed.

Returning to UK to take up residence instantly cancels your French residency so the possibility of benefitting from the French health system does not arise.

See here also;

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074376

[Théière]

[quote user="AnOther"]The 6 months qualifying period principally applies to non UK nationals.

[/quote]

Read "should apply" The NHS has been treating a lot of the worlds sick people for years at the expense of the tax payer, Mr Cameron has a plan that will stop this. (they will ruin the NHS for everyone).

[powerdesal]

[quote user="AnOther"]PD is correct.

http://www.stockport-lmc.org.uk/simple%20guide%20to%20NHS%20entitlement.pdf

The 6 months qualifying period principally applies to non UK nationals.

Some trusts may be suspicious and reluctant to accept you back from day one (how do you prove that you have moved back to reside ?) but ultimately once they do anything you are required to pay should be reimbursed.

Returning to UK to take up residence instantly cancels your French residency so the possibility of benefitting from the French health system does not arise.

See here also;

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074376

[/quote]

It is unlikely that, once given an NI number or NHS number plus address, any trust will even query your status, they would have no reason for suspicion.

[idun]

Instant cover. I know, I've done it.

Our situation as I always mention is different as we had to hand in an S1, but we were still covered, until the CPAM

managed to sort this out.

 

 

The problem we have discussed recently is holiday home owners spending a lot of time at the holiday home

and losing NHS cover, as the health dept argument is that they should have registered in their 'new' country

of residence. Because under UK rules, after a certain period, people are no longer UK residents.

 

 

 

 

 

[powerdesal]

How on earth does the NHS Health Dept know that someone has a 'holiday home' in France, Italy, Spain or wherever ? Equally, how do they know how long someone spends on holiday ?

[idun]

It wouldn't matter if you had a holiday home or were just spending a lot of time out of the country.

 

Val2, have I remembered properly, that 'they' had checked and knew everytime you had travelled to

and from France???????

Apologies if I have misremembered.

[powerdesal]

There is no doubt the possibility of Govt checks on who leaves UK and for how long, after all your passport is logged when you leave and return. However, to think that a Health Authority would initiate such a check for no apparent reason is stretching credulity a bit.

[Benjamin]

As has already been said, straight back in without any questions being asked.

The real problem is the culture shock of comparing the two systems.

Dealing with the NHS is like trying to swim in treacle.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Benjamin"]Dealing with the NHS is like trying to swim in treacle.



[/quote]And dealing with CPAM/CMU/URSSAF/your top-up insurer/The hospital/GP/etc, etc etc isn't?[:-))]

[Richardbk]

At my daughter's boarding school she (brit from france) and her non-brit/ non-european classmates are able to sign immediately to an NHS doctor and if they dont have one, are in the process, issued with a NI number as well. Once they have the NI number they can then get the UK EHIC card. There is no test of residency period, but perhaps there is some form of agreement to immediately cover all students in full time education.

[Val_2]

[quote user="idun"]

It wouldn't matter if you had a holiday home or were just spending a lot of time out of the country.

 

Val2, have I remembered properly, that 'they' had checked and knew everytime you had travelled to

and from France???????

Apologies if I have misremembered.

[/quote]

 

No, you have remembered although it was the Inland Revenue who had a print out of every crossing we had made from 1989 - 94 before moving here,plus our passport numbers and car reg details and this came to light when OH was summoned with his accountant for a control prior to us moving over here when they had a purge on local builders in our town in the UK. No one should ever forget that a paper trail does not disappear once you leave the UK or indeed France, everything you do,buy or use publicly is recorded.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="Benjamin"]Dealing with the NHS is like trying to swim in treacle.



[/quote]And dealing with CPAM/CMU/URSSAF/your top-up insurer/The hospital/GP/etc, etc etc isn't?[:-))][/quote]AN occupational hazard of dealing with all large bureaucracies[:D]

[EmilyA]

Yes, but the point is that with the NHS you are not dealing directly with how much is being paid by whom and when. We have just discovered that not one doctor's payment has gone through from our CV to our caisse since Christmas, although the pharmacy has been reimbursed. Now we have to go to the doctor and ask for 9 backdated feuilles de soin. That will be fun.

[Frederick]

I suppose if they suspected and felt inclined to waste their time finding out how long you take for a holiday. They could insist on asking for details  of all the travel bookings you have made in a year... I make sure that my stays in France are within the periods of visit laid down by my multy travel holiday health cover. I dont give a thought to the total number of days I spend out of the UK in a year... and ... over years I have been  never been asked 

[AnOther]

[quote user="Richardbk"]There is no test of residency period, but perhaps there is some form of agreement to immediately cover all students in full time education.[/quote]Yep.

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lsmp/healthadvice/international/international.html

[Loiseau]

[quote user="Frederick"]

... They could insist on asking for details  of all the travel bookings you have made in a year...

[/quote]

I don't suppose they'd even have to ask.  There's an electronic trail via all the credit-card travel bookings, and via cashpoint withdrawals and other card use abroad.

Angela

[idun]

Thanks Val2.

If they want to check, they can. It wouldn't be hard for them to check.

[idun]

Benjamin, I have two lovely Drs, a german and a spanniard. The receptionists and nurses well, I cannot get away with them at all. The receptionists, for I'm not at the same practice at my husband are all useless and as bad as any despicable fonctionnaire I have ever come across.  The nurses? what is that about, cheap replacement doctors. And why aren't there more Doctors. All a very rum show as far as I am concerned. Even prescriptions are a bit odd.

Now xrays, etc and lab tests etc........ I am assured they are quick these days, but they are not.

Yes, swimming in treacle, sometimes that it as apt description. But I've just spent so much of my life battling one system or another, that this is just a continuation for me.

 

 

[YCCMB]

It's the same wherever you are in the UK or France, I guess...the old postcode lottery. Last time I went for an x-ray, for example, the time from GP visit to x-ray was 25 hours, the time from hospital car park to x-ray dept and back to car park was 15 minutes. That included getting my kit off and on again! The GP's receptionist? Well, one of them is the mother of my younger son's BF from school, so I know her well. The nurses? Fine and quite competent.

OH, in contrast, was supposed to be having a minor op tomorrow and it had to be postponed because they forgot to contact him to organise pre-op blood tests and medication. Oddly, however, THAT was private treatment!

[idun]

I've had fast xrays in both countries. The difference is that I have left the xray clinic in France with my xray and a letter for my Dr immediately and if there has been a problem the Dr at the xray place has called me in and gone over my results with me, yet again, immediately.

Same with lab tests, next day, or for those that take a bit longer, a week and the results to home.

I have never heard of anyone in France, having a nervous breakdown or topping themselves when they recieved their own results.

I cannot say that the french health service is perfect, far from it, as I have had problems. However, there are still some things that are excellent and in comparison, the NHS feels stodgy and blinkered in it's approach to too many very basic things.

 

[Gardengirl]

We've been very satisfied with all aspects of our GP practice in

England, where we've been patients for nearly 30 years. Receptionists

are helpful and friendly, GPs and nurses are excellent. Quite a number

of procedures which used to be done at hospital are now done at the surgery,

saving a great deal of time and bother, plus parking fees; I know that these same procedures aren't necessarily carried out at other GP surgeries. One fairly

recent addition to their equipment has been a machine for checking out

shoulder problems; it was used on me and showed just what it was; this piece

of kit cost much more than my GP's car, he told me - and his car isn't

cheap or old! They offer a wide range of appointments, we've never had a

problem with home visits when needed, and can request an a.m. or p.m.

telephone appointment to discuss minor concerns for which we might

hesitate to make an appointment or to discuss how medication etc is

going.

In France, until yesterday we hadn't found a doctor in our town who we thought was more

than just competent; one was totally wrong, one was useless (he told me a

couple of years ago I might have avian flu, ordinary flu or 'something

else' - which I already knew!), seemed more like a workman in his dress,

and left me half-naked on the bed in his room with the window uncovered

and the door wide open! Yesterday I accompanied my OH to the same

practice and we were allocated a charming young woman doctor, who was very

thorough, showed sympathy, gave a prescription and careful guidance, and

spoke English should it be needed; when checking my husband's surname,

she could pronounce 'th' correctly, so I assume her spoken English was

good. Unfortunately, she only works one day a week, so we'll have to

arrange to be ill in time for Wednesdays!

In England, treatment can be very mixed. We have usually had very good treatment at our local

hospital, although at times in the past there had been a long wait in

A&E. Any serious illness or accident has been dealt with quickly and

very well, both in the past and more recently. However, I had one

bad experience in a separate branch of our hospital several miles away, where they forgot to

operate on me - I'd had no food for 18 hours, and had been in those

lovely operation stockings for about 6 hours. (They offered another appointment a few weeks later, a couple of days before Christmas, which I refused and insisted on one a few weeks later which suited me) At the main hospital near us, all heart attack patients are

having a stent fitted within a very short time of admission - about 90 minutes, I

think, day or night; an excellent service.

Relatives in the next county have also found excellent care in their local

hospital, plus in the London hospital where they have had serious

operations and treatment. Other relatives in the NE generally had

excellent treatment but also terrible experiences with ambulance staff

and in hospital, with one relative who died following extremely bad

'care' over a period of several weeks, having previously had excellent

care for long-term conditions over many years in the same hospital. So not a postcode lottery there.

I've only had one visit to hospital in France, when taken by ambulance

following a fall. Everything was taken care of very efficiently at

first, then part way through assessment/treatment I was returned to A&E waiting

room in a wheelchair, then ordered out of it later with nowhere to sit,

as it was very full of patients, some of whom had been waiting when I

first arrived. I was still in a bit of a state and holding dressings up to a

head wound and managing to drip blood around the waiting room, then later along corridors and in the xray department, which was rather messy by the time I left it.

Later I was sent to another area to wait for stitches, and my husband

was ordered back to a waiting area, despite there being plenty of seats.

I got so fed up waiting on my own with nothing to do and still in a

weak, wobbly state that I finally went in search of him, still dripping

blood, and someone from an office I passed sent me back and went in

search of my husband to keep me company. The young trainee doctor who

stitched the wound did an excellent job - no scar can be seen, despite

being in a prominent position on the bridge of my nose.

Having finished treatment there, I went to hand over my EHIC card in the

payment office, and found that nobody had a clue what it was or what to

do with it. Eventually somebody was found who knew about them and

showed them what to do.

[NickP]

[quote user="idun"]

Benjamin, I have two lovely Drs, a german and a spanniard. The receptionists and nurses well, I cannot get away with them at all. The receptionists, for I'm not at the same practice at my husband are all useless and as bad as any despicable fonctionnaire I have ever come across.  The nurses? what is that about, cheap replacement doctors. And why aren't there more Doctors. All a very rum show as far as I am concerned. Even prescriptions are a bit odd.

Now xrays, etc and lab tests etc........ I am assured they are quick these days, but they are not.

Yes, swimming in treacle, sometimes that it as apt description. But I've just spent so much of my life battling one system or another, that this is just a continuation for me.

 

 

[/quote]

I'm sure Idun that my wife a now retired SRN, who not only passed exams to be a nurse but studied in her own time to get extra qualifications from Warwick university. Who worked in hospital theatres and wards, was a tutor nurse for young trainee nurses and finished up working as a practise nurse and Diabetes specialist for ten years would be delighted to read your description of her career? I really think that some people should read what they write and engage their brain before pressing the send button