Baby born prematurely abroad - any help with medical expenses?

LondonDiva

To be legally eligible for more than A&E, GUM services you must meet two criteria at the same time - intending to be ordinarily resident in the UK for a settle purpose and also legally entitled to reside in the UK. If you don't meet both requirements, OR have been out of the country for more than 3 months (excl forces etc), you are not entitled to NHS services -nada.

The info posted by fawd1 relates to the second half of the criteria (right to live here), but gives nothing to convinice me or a hospital overseas officer that the family are ordinarily resident in the UK and having come back to the UK soley to for the purposes of accessing expensive care are not looking to transfer the £££ to the tax payer.

Please refer to the DH or NHS.uk criteria rather than the CAB and other advocacy sites, whom I have seen give quite incorrect and potentially dangerous information.

peachyprice

LondonDiva wrote: »

Please refer to the DH or NHS.uk criteria rather than the CAB and other advocacy sites, whom I have seen give quite incorrect and potentially dangerous information.

The OP didn't actually ask if the baby could be brought back to the UK for treatment, she asked if there would be any help for the child of a UK citizen in Thailand with no health insurance.

I'm pretty sure, even if the child were entitled to NHS care they wouldn't pay for the repatriation of a prem baby.

neverdespairgirl

fawd1 wrote: »

Nope. See below taken from CAB website.

You can receive free NHS hospital treatment if you:-

• have been living legally in the UK for at least 12 months when you start treatment, and did not come to the UK for private medical treatment. Temporary absences from the UK of up to three months (in England, up to 182 days) are ignored
• have come to the UK to take up permanent residence, for example, if you are a former UK resident who has returned from abroad, or if you have been granted leave to enter or remain as a spouse
• have come to the UK to work, either as an employee or self-employed person. In England and Wales, if you are employed, your employer's main place of business must be in the UK or be registered in the UK. This could be, for example, a branch of an overseas company. If you are self-employed your main place of business must be in the UK

Those are covered by "habitually resident". You can be at the start of a period of habitual residence.

euronorris

Nicki wrote: »

NHS classes being out of the country for more than 3 months as being habitually resident abroad. Go figure!

They don't have a decent system in place though to routinely check this.

It would be very easy for me to register at a GP in the UK, using my parent's address. In fact, I think my old GP may still have me on her register. I did ask her to remove me, but she said she'd leave me on there for a year just in case it all went tits up and I came home. No idea if I've been removed now or not.

But certainly with A&E care, I could go in, give parent's address and be treated. No questions asked if I didn't mention the fact I live abroad myself.

It's crazy, the system is widely open to abuse.

And I'm pretty sure HMRC still hasn't recorded my status correctly as I've been trying to get that sorted since I left 2 and a half years ago!! But, seeing as we can't even get them to allocate payments correctly for one of our clients, I'm not holding out much hope of it being processed correctly anytime soon.

euronorris

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

You need to be "habitually resident" to qualify for NHS care.

No you don't, not always.

There are forms you can complete, which along with continuing to pay Tax and NI from abroad, will entitle you to retain your rights to NHS care for a period of up to 5 years.

euronorris

This thread did make me think 'shouldn't I be entitled to an EHIC card from the Netherlands?'. And the answer of course, is yes. So I have applied for that today and should be with me in a few days.

So thanks all!

*Man, the things you just don't think about sometimes, but really should!*

Nicki

euronorris wrote: »

They don't have a decent system in place though to routinely check this.

It would be very easy for me to register at a GP in the UK, using my parent's address. In fact, I think my old GP may still have me on her register. I did ask her to remove me, but she said she'd leave me on there for a year just in case it all went tits up and I came home. No idea if I've been removed now or not.

But certainly with A&E care, I could go in, give parent's address and be treated. No questions asked if I didn't mention the fact I live abroad myself.

It's crazy, the system is widely open to abuse.

And I'm pretty sure HMRC still hasn't recorded my status correctly as I've been trying to get that sorted since I left 2 and a half years ago!! But, seeing as we can't even get them to allocate payments correctly for one of our clients, I'm not holding out much hope of it being processed correctly anytime soon.

It depends where you live and how oversubscribed the doctors are I think. I live in Central London and they do check. They send letters out 2 or 3 times a year and if they are returned as undelivered you are struck off the list. You also sometimes have to actually make contact to confirm you should still be on the list.

Also when you register, at my doctors, you need to provide photographic identification, proof of address and birth certificates for your children. So at least where I live you could not turn up without being registered and get the doctor to see a child you claim to be yours (whether mum or dad) without proving that you are entitled to treatment. Even if you had managed to stay on their list by giving a false address, you still couldn't access treatment for a child or partner not registered at the time without proving their entitlement.

euronorris

Nicki wrote: »

It depends where you live and how oversubscribed the doctors are I think. I live in Central London and they do check. They send letters out 2 or 3 times a year and if they are returned as undelivered you are struck off the list. You also sometimes have to actually make contact to confirm you should still be on the list.

Also when you register, at my doctors, you need to provide photographic identification, proof of address and birth certificates for your children. So at least where I live you could not turn up without being registered and get the doctor to see a child you claim to be yours (whether mum or dad) without proving that you are entitled to treatment. Even if you had managed to stay on their list by giving a false address, you still couldn't access treatment for a child or partner not registered at the time without proving their entitlement.

Maybe area plays a huge part (as with most things in the UK it seems) then, as I never once had any letters sent out to confirm if you are still there etc. Or maybe they never bothered as I was at the doctor's quite regularly at one point. I'm not sure. I was in the Bromley Borough at that point, so not too far from central london and the surgery was fully subscribed (ie, closed to new patients).

But again, I could give my passport as photo ID, and my driving licence as proof of address. See? It would be soooo easy for me to abuse the system. It would be different for any children born here in NL though, I agree, as their Birth Certificate would obviously be Dutch.

I think the best option someone gave the OP so far, is to contact the embassy of the mother's home country to see what assistance they could offer, if any.

OP - do you know how they are getting on? I hope Mother and baby are doing well, despite the stress.

Nicki

The proof of address they ask for though is a utility bill or council tax bill dated within the previous 6 weeks in your name. You can also use a landline bill but not a mobile, and a bank statement within the same date parameters. It's as restrictive as opening a new bank account tbh! Mind you maybe that's as it should be, as claiming NHS treatment when you aren't eligible is fraud, just as money laundering is.

euronorris

Nicki wrote: »

The proof of address they ask for though is a utility bill or council tax bill dated within the previous 6 weeks in your name. You can also use a landline bill but not a mobile, and a bank statement within the same date parameters. It's as restrictive as opening a new bank account tbh! Mind you maybe that's as it should be, as claiming NHS treatment when you aren't eligible is fraud, just as money laundering is.

Have the rules on proof of address changed then (again!)? I was under the impression that a driving licence would suffice, but am aware they change frequently to try and get rid of fraudulent activity (or at least make it more difficult). I remember when a bill from the last 6 months would suffice also, but that seems to have changed too.

I agree with you, it is fraud, but I still think it's very easy to get away with it in some cases. Particularly A&E.