We can go to surgery straightaway

They have a National Healthcare System in England, which I have heard mixed feedback on. Some people have said it is good, some have said it is very restrictive. My biggest worry since we have been here is something happening to one of the kids and not knowing how to get help or get to the doctor. These are things you don’t think about until you move to a new country and don’t even know what number to dial for an emergency. I now know we call 999 for fire, police or ambulance. We also finally got registered with our nearest healthcare clinic. I had been told conficting things about how to get registered with the NHS. So after a lot of research, I finally figured out that the best way to do it would be to go to the nearest healthcare clinic and sign up to be a new patient. This will be our registered GP (General Practitioner) and we will have to go through this clinic for everything. We found the closest clinic to our post code and went in and filled out paperwork. We had to prove where we lived and show our passports. They will send these forms in and we will get a NHS number in the mail in a few weeks. On the way out of the healthcare clinic, we asked what happens if we need to make an appointment before we get the NHS card and we were told that if we need to come in, we can go to surgery straightaway. In the UK, “surgery” means a doctor appointment. So when they say you need to make a surgery appointment – this is just a regular visit to your GP. If you are only using the NHS, and you need a complex procedure (such as what we consider a surgery), then you get put on a wait list. If you have supplemental coverage then you have more flexibility and can see a specialist and have less of a wait. We do have a supplemental policy through hubby’s employer. The doctor’s office experience is also different here. You sit in the waiting room of the clinic until you are called back by loud speaker to a specific room number. In the room, there is a nurse waiting and they will be the only person that you will most likely see. You rarely, if ever, will actually see a doctor. That is reserved for the very, very sick or hospitalized. So here is hoping we don’t have to see a doctor for the whole time we live here. But at least we now know we can go to surgery straightaway if we need to.