Ovderview of Access to the Health Care System in UK

Within the NHS in UK after so many years I was familiar with the system. The money for the health care comes from the tax which is paid from the salary. When you move into an area you look for the local GP surgeries. The GP surgeries serve specific catchment areas according to the population. Then you can fill in a form and apply to register in the surgery. After that you can make appointment to see any doctor for urgent problems which can be the same day or within 48 hours or routine appointment with a specific doctor within the month.

You can put a note for repeat prescription which does not require you to see the doctor every time. Most prescriptions are for 1 to 2 months of medication. There is a set charge for each medicine on your prescription which currently is £7.20. If you need medication all year round then you can pay a yearly prescription fee and then be exempt from paying the prescription charge every time. If you are on medications that you must take to avoid further health problems that will then cost the NHS more such as medication for hypothyroidism you can fill a form to get exemption from paying you prescription charges.

In case you felt ill outside the surgery hours you called the NHS Direct where someone would ask you questions and advice you what to do. If they were unable to decide then you would get a call from the nurse of duty or even the doctor. The GP does not carry out home visit except for the elderly and infirm. In an emergency you can either take yourself to the hospital A&E or call an ambulance. There is no charge for calling an ambulance. In A&E you get seen according to the urgency of your condition. There used to be a time limit of 4 hours by which all patients would be seen but this has been removed when the current government came into power. You can have any necessary investigations carried out and if need be hospitalisation. All this is free at the point of access.

If you need it the GP can refer you to a consultant who also used to be in the catchment area hospital, but now patient can choose the consultant he wishes to see. Also earlier there was a time limit of 8 weeks by which the patient had to be seen upon referral. There were also time limits regarding waiting lists for surgery, additional support services like Physiotherapy, Occupation Therapy etc. All these services are being stretched considerably now with the changes and cuts to the NHS. However, the process of access to service is reasonable straight forward as easy to plug into when moving to the UK. However all this will probably be totally different with the changes and cuts being made to the NHS.