A
Anonymous
Guest
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Am I missing a big point? Haven't read all the thread
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Yes, you are missing the entire point which is probably because you haven't read the webpage, link posted in the original post.
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...but then return to the UK to take up permanent residence here again, then you will be entitled to receive free NHS hospital treatment from the day you return
[/ QUOTE ] Yes, the key is your intent to take up permanent residency. If you are not taking up permanent residency you will possibly not be entitled to treatment and if you are given it, you might end up with a bill, on a scale of fees unpublished and outside your control.
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From the day you return! So that's that surely? You step on British soil declaring 'right, I'm back now' and that's it. There's no mention of proving anything or tax status.
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NO! That is absolutely not correct. You might think that it ought to be correct but that doesn't make it correct. Read the Department of Health guidance.
From the Department of Health website, above:- <span style="color:blue">The Regulations place a responsibility on individual hospitals to determine whether, in accordance with the Regulations, a patient is liable to be charged for treatment or not. In order to establish entitlement, hospitals can ask you to provide documentation that supports your claim for free treatment, such as evidence of where you live, moving permanently back to the UK etc, as appropriate.</span> Forget the tax status thing, that has come from Lady Jessie, not the Department of Health.
As I pointed out in my original post, there is an inference - only an inference, we don't have the facts - that if you are travelling in Europe assuming that your EU Healthcard is valid, then if you have been out of the UK for more than three months it might be that you are not entitled to use the card. While it might work perfectly well in Europe, you might find that you have a bill waiting for you at your UK home or correspondence address at a later date. Maybe nobody will find out, maybe they will.
Let's give you an example. Suppose you have been in Spain on your boat for four months and then have a major op in Spain using your healthcard and then decide to go back to the UK to be with family and for further treatment (I know someone who did almost exactly that so it is not unusual). Suppose you play by the rules and declare that you are resuming permanent residency (if you have right of abode, of course). Obviously you give the doctors full details of the op you had carried out in Spain and the administrator wanders over for a chat... how long had you been out of the country for? Can you provide any evidence? The administrator only has to put your details into the database for find your healthcard and presumably any bills that have been charged to it, from Spain. If you were not entitled to NHS treatment while you were in Spain don't you think that they are going to try to re-charge it to you? Sure, you might argue that they are not clever enough or efficient enough to do that but you could be in for a nasty surprise. ADMINISTRATORS DO CHECK AND ASK QUESTIONS, WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH IT OURSELVES.
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It explains the thread, but I still see the thread as being typical of a lot of threads as in it seems to be looking for a problem where there is none.
[/ QUOTE ] If you read the first post and the link you will get all the information you need. No need to read the whole thread which drifts into tax residency and euthanasia.
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So, as a long term live-aboard / expat, call me what you will, I can confirm that I've recently gone through the NHS system for treatment and at no stage was I asked about my travels or residency status and I was treated. I wasn't even registered with a doctor, have no UK medical records and had no health card.
[/ QUOTE ] That's about as much sense as saying that speed limits are not enforced in the UK because you've just driven down the Bath Road at 70 mph without being caught. It's for everyone to decide for themselves what they are prepared to risk.
We were interviewed by the hospital administrator when we returned from Spain with my wife's ankle in plaster. I guess that was a dead giveaway because they asked where the cast had been applied. "Spain", we said, "we've been staying on our boat for a while"... We then had the third degree despite having a local address clearly marked on our driving licences as they wanted to know exactly how long we had been away for. The point is that you don't re-qualify for NHS treatment simply by coming home on a trip. You only qualify if you are returning to re-commence residency. Provided that you make it clear and can provide some supporting evidence (or are prepared to have an argument later if a bill arrives) then you shouldn't have a problem. You need to know what to say to the administrator, and what not to say. i.e. you need to know the rules that they administrator is applying. Where better to find them than on the Department of Health's website?
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Unless of course you shout and scream at the doctors and nurses as you burst through the A&E doors on a trolley not to touch you until your right to treatment has been established or you throw your mastercard at the receptionist.
[/ QUOTE ] Nobody is suggesting that. I am suggesting that if you read the rules you won't need to throw a tantrum or your Mastercard at the doctors, nurses or administrators. Of course, there is a large group of liveaboards who have gone to live elsewhere in the EU (and outside the EU) permanently. They are official residents of those countries and when they visit the UK they have limited access to the NHS (read the link, it's all there).
The group of people that is most at risk is those who just wander on their boats here and there without registering for residency or medical care as they are travelling. That group becomes disenfranchised possibly with no right to non-emergency treatment in the EU or the UK unless they proclaim their intention to re-commence UK residency.
Am I missing a big point? Haven't read all the thread
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, you are missing the entire point which is probably because you haven't read the webpage, link posted in the original post.
[ QUOTE ]
...but then return to the UK to take up permanent residence here again, then you will be entitled to receive free NHS hospital treatment from the day you return
[/ QUOTE ] Yes, the key is your intent to take up permanent residency. If you are not taking up permanent residency you will possibly not be entitled to treatment and if you are given it, you might end up with a bill, on a scale of fees unpublished and outside your control.
[ QUOTE ]
From the day you return! So that's that surely? You step on British soil declaring 'right, I'm back now' and that's it. There's no mention of proving anything or tax status.
[/ QUOTE ]
NO! That is absolutely not correct. You might think that it ought to be correct but that doesn't make it correct. Read the Department of Health guidance.
From the Department of Health website, above:- <span style="color:blue">The Regulations place a responsibility on individual hospitals to determine whether, in accordance with the Regulations, a patient is liable to be charged for treatment or not. In order to establish entitlement, hospitals can ask you to provide documentation that supports your claim for free treatment, such as evidence of where you live, moving permanently back to the UK etc, as appropriate.</span> Forget the tax status thing, that has come from Lady Jessie, not the Department of Health.
As I pointed out in my original post, there is an inference - only an inference, we don't have the facts - that if you are travelling in Europe assuming that your EU Healthcard is valid, then if you have been out of the UK for more than three months it might be that you are not entitled to use the card. While it might work perfectly well in Europe, you might find that you have a bill waiting for you at your UK home or correspondence address at a later date. Maybe nobody will find out, maybe they will.
Let's give you an example. Suppose you have been in Spain on your boat for four months and then have a major op in Spain using your healthcard and then decide to go back to the UK to be with family and for further treatment (I know someone who did almost exactly that so it is not unusual). Suppose you play by the rules and declare that you are resuming permanent residency (if you have right of abode, of course). Obviously you give the doctors full details of the op you had carried out in Spain and the administrator wanders over for a chat... how long had you been out of the country for? Can you provide any evidence? The administrator only has to put your details into the database for find your healthcard and presumably any bills that have been charged to it, from Spain. If you were not entitled to NHS treatment while you were in Spain don't you think that they are going to try to re-charge it to you? Sure, you might argue that they are not clever enough or efficient enough to do that but you could be in for a nasty surprise. ADMINISTRATORS DO CHECK AND ASK QUESTIONS, WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH IT OURSELVES.
[ QUOTE ]
It explains the thread, but I still see the thread as being typical of a lot of threads as in it seems to be looking for a problem where there is none.
[/ QUOTE ] If you read the first post and the link you will get all the information you need. No need to read the whole thread which drifts into tax residency and euthanasia.
[ QUOTE ]
So, as a long term live-aboard / expat, call me what you will, I can confirm that I've recently gone through the NHS system for treatment and at no stage was I asked about my travels or residency status and I was treated. I wasn't even registered with a doctor, have no UK medical records and had no health card.
[/ QUOTE ] That's about as much sense as saying that speed limits are not enforced in the UK because you've just driven down the Bath Road at 70 mph without being caught. It's for everyone to decide for themselves what they are prepared to risk.
We were interviewed by the hospital administrator when we returned from Spain with my wife's ankle in plaster. I guess that was a dead giveaway because they asked where the cast had been applied. "Spain", we said, "we've been staying on our boat for a while"... We then had the third degree despite having a local address clearly marked on our driving licences as they wanted to know exactly how long we had been away for. The point is that you don't re-qualify for NHS treatment simply by coming home on a trip. You only qualify if you are returning to re-commence residency. Provided that you make it clear and can provide some supporting evidence (or are prepared to have an argument later if a bill arrives) then you shouldn't have a problem. You need to know what to say to the administrator, and what not to say. i.e. you need to know the rules that they administrator is applying. Where better to find them than on the Department of Health's website?
[ QUOTE ]
Unless of course you shout and scream at the doctors and nurses as you burst through the A&E doors on a trolley not to touch you until your right to treatment has been established or you throw your mastercard at the receptionist.
[/ QUOTE ] Nobody is suggesting that. I am suggesting that if you read the rules you won't need to throw a tantrum or your Mastercard at the doctors, nurses or administrators. Of course, there is a large group of liveaboards who have gone to live elsewhere in the EU (and outside the EU) permanently. They are official residents of those countries and when they visit the UK they have limited access to the NHS (read the link, it's all there).
The group of people that is most at risk is those who just wander on their boats here and there without registering for residency or medical care as they are travelling. That group becomes disenfranchised possibly with no right to non-emergency treatment in the EU or the UK unless they proclaim their intention to re-commence UK residency.
