Health care provided by the NHS National Health System is free of charge to ordinarily residents. If you are in the UK on a visitor or tourist visa, you will have to pay for medical care. You can only get emergency help for free.
If you are an EU citizen, you must have a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) to receive free NHS care. Please be aware that healthcare in the UK may differ from healthcare in your country and you may not get the care you are used to getting for free. The same card must be held by British citizens traveling abroad.
To receive advice and treatment from a GP (General Practitioner), you must register as an NHS patient at a surgery office near you. The registration process can take a couple of weeks, so register as soon as you arrive so that you won’t be denied assistance in an emergency. You can register temporarily (if you are in the UK from 24 hours to 3 months). Please note that not all surgeries accept new patients. Similarly, you will need to register with Dental surgery. Dental services, within the NHS, are paid for most patients. The exceptions are children, people receiving certain benefits, pregnant women and women with children under one year old. Not all dentists in the UK work on government rates. The prices of private dentists are much higher.
Hospital treatment is free for ordinarily residents. If you are in the UK on a tourist, private or business visa, you will have to pay a fee. Failure to pay for NHS services rendered will result in your visa being denied later.
But some services are free for all foreigners. These are the treatment of infectious diseases – meningitis, malaria, acute dysentery, etc., including sexually transmitted diseases (except AIDS), minor injuries that are treated at A&E or walk-in-centre, urgent mental health care and family planning (other than abortion).
Free care in the hospital, except for ordinarily residents, is entitled to students whose course of study is more than 6 months, and foreign employees of British companies. Emergency hospital treatment was free for citizens of countries with which the UK has a bilateral agreement. It was concluded with all countries of the former USSR. Unfortunately, as of January 1, 2016, this agreement has ceased to work.
The right to free hospital treatment is how residents ordinarily acquire:
Persons who have lived in the country for at least 12 months (absence in the country for up to 182 days is ignored). An exception is if you arrived in the country to receive paid treatment.
Persons entering on a matrimonial visa of a British citizen and dependents, receive this right from the moment of entry, as members of the ordinarily resident family.
Returning residents and their spouses who have been issued leave to enter or remain.
Persons receiving a UK State Pension but living in a non-EU country or persons who have lived at least 10 years in the UK and permanently reside in the EU countries.
If you are not entitled to free treatment, hospital staff must inform you in advance of the cost of treatment and sign a written agreement to pay after treatment (if you cannot pay in advance). If you are unable to pay, you will only receive emergency care so that your condition stabilizes and you can continue your treatment in your home country.
The emergency number (and all emergency services in the UK) is 999, the single European number is 112. The reason for calling an ambulance in the UK is chest pain, loss of consciousness, serious injuries, difficulty breathing. For less significant reasons, you will be asked to drive yourself to the hospital. In the ambulance, not doctors work here, but paramedics (an analogue of Soviet paramedics).
Call 111 for a telephone consultation if your case is not urgent. You can check your symptoms and decide if you need to see a doctor yourself online at the NHS website.
For many reasons, people from the former USSR, who are used to other standards of medical care, are not happy with the UK healthcare. At least its primary link is GP services. In this case, you can choose another GP service center. You can compare services and view GP ratings on the NHS website. Only GP can refer you to a specialist if he/she thinks he cannot help you with your problem. There are legends among immigrants about the unprofessionalism of local GPs and how difficult it is to get them a referral to a specialist or prescribe something other than paracetamol and ibuprofen. GPs do not go home to patients (except for those who are bedridden or very seriously ill). The GP consultation is very short, usually 8-10 minutes. If you have more than one question, it is recommended to book a double visit. For non-urgent issues, you can book an appointment online or by phone for up to 6 weeks (typically 2-3 weeks waiting time). To book a visit on the day of the call, you need to call at 8.30 am, when the system opens available slots. Or, if the case is urgent, you need to go to GP practice and forgive the urgent slot (usually there are quite a lot of them).
If you are referred to a specialist, be prepared for a long wait. Even in an urgent case, you can wait 1-2 months.
Our advice, based on our own experience, if you suspect something serious in yourself, to study better the symptoms of the disease that you suspect in yourself, go to the A&E of a large hospital and complain in full. It is more likely to meet a qualified doctor at the appointment and quickly pass the necessary tests and examinations (ultrasound, CT, etc.)
If you work, then you do not need to confirm the sick leave from work for 5-7 working days (varies for different employers), it is enough to issue a self certificate.