Needing medical help while you are abroad
If you are outside the UK and become unwell, please seek medical advice from a healthcare service in the country you are visiting.
Our clinicians are unable to provide medical consultations, assess new symptoms, diagnose conditions or prescribe treatment for patients while they are abroad. This is because different countries have different licensing, prescribing and regulatory requirements, and our clinicians' professional indemnity arrangements do not cover medical care provided to patients outside the UK.
There are also important clinical safety considerations. If you become unwell abroad, you may need a physical examination, investigations, treatment or urgent medical assistance that we cannot safely arrange or coordinate from the UK.
What should I do if I become unwell abroad?
Please contact an appropriate local healthcare service. Depending on where you are, this may be through:
- local primary or urgent healthcare services;
- your travel insurance provider;
- your hotel, accommodation provider or travel representative for advice on accessing local healthcare;
- emergency services if you are seriously unwell; or
- healthcare available through a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), where applicable.
Please do not submit a triage form for a new medical problem while you are outside the UK. If we identify that you are currently abroad, we will advise you to seek medical assessment locally instead.
Can I still contact the surgery?
Yes. We can continue to help with appropriate administrative matters, for example:
- cancelling or rearranging an appointment;
- arranging a routine appointment for after you return to the UK; or
- other non-clinical administrative queries.
Please be aware that the practice will not make outgoing calls to overseas/international telephone numbers. If you are currently abroad and have requested a telephone call-back, we will not be able to contact you on an international number. If you become unwell while abroad, please seek appropriate medical care locally.
If you have an ongoing medical condition or need regular medication, we strongly recommend making appropriate arrangements before travelling and ensuring you have suitable travel insurance.
Patients requiring repatriation to the UK
Where a patient becomes seriously unwell or injured abroad and requires repatriation to the UK, arrangements should normally be coordinated by the medical team treating the patient overseas and the patient's travel or medical insurer.
The practice should not be the first point of contact for arranging repatriation and cannot organise transport, flights, medical escorts, overseas treatment or transfer arrangements.
However, where requested by the patient's insurer or the healthcare team managing them overseas, the practice can provide reasonable assistance, for example by:
- providing relevant information from the patient's medical record, subject to appropriate consent and the practice's usual information-sharing processes;
- completing appropriate medical reports or forms;
- confirming relevant past medical history, medication or other clinical information; and
- providing information needed to support continuity of care once the patient returns to the UK
Any requests for medical records or other confidential information must be handled in accordance with the practice's usual consent, confidentiality and information-governance procedures.
Any decision about whether the patient is medically fit to travel, what level of medical support is required during transport, and when repatriation should take place must be made and coordinated by the clinicians currently responsible for the patient's care overseas and/or the insurer's medical assistance service.
The practice may provide reasonable information and assistance to support the process but does not assume responsibility for coordinating or providing the patient's clinical care while they remain abroad.
Overseas visitors who need medical care while in England
Patients who normally live in another country but are temporarily visiting England may access NHS primary medical services. Nationality or ordinary residence does not in itself determine eligibility for NHS GP care.
Where an overseas visitor is staying in the practice area for more than 24 hours but less than three months, they may be offered registration as a temporary patient.
Patients staying in the area for less than 24 hours, or where temporary registration is otherwise not appropriate, may still require access to immediately necessary treatment. A patient's registration status should not prevent appropriate assessment or treatment where this is clinically necessary.
If an overseas visitor contacts the practice requesting medical care:
- The Registration Team should establish where the patient is currently staying, how long they expect to remain in the area and the nature and urgency of the assistance required.
- Where appropriate, the patient should be offered temporary registration in accordance with the practice's usual registration arrangements.
- A patient who requires immediately necessary treatment should not be denied appropriate primary medical care solely because they are visiting from overseas or are not registered with the practice.
- Lack of proof of address, identification or immigration status should not in itself prevent the patient from accessing appropriate GP services.
- Overseas visitors should be asked to provide relevant information, where available, including details of their usual GP/doctor, current medication, allergies and significant medical history.
- Where applicable, details of a non-UK EHIC, S1 or other relevant healthcare documentation should be recorded in accordance with current NHS guidance.
- If the patient requires hospital or secondary care, the clinician should refer on clinical grounds in the usual way. Eligibility for free secondary care and any applicable overseas visitor charges are determined by the receiving NHS organisation rather than the GP practice.