To try and get my Dad back to the UK so he can die here

Most people can’t even get an urgent GP appointment within 24 hours!

It is one of the significant ways we differ to the states. Americans know that medical care is something you have to pay (a lot) for or you don’t get.

Oh that's a pain

I’ve said this and others berated me for it!

That's my understanding aswell. You have to have been a resident here.
It seems somewhat cruel given how ill he is. Sorry for your plight here OP.

Please dont tell me what my truth is

Mother was admitted on a Tuesday, spent the next 2 nights in A&E - luckily she got a bed and not a trolley , then transferred to Antrim on the Thursday . She took a heart attack on the Saturday and transferred then to a mixed medical ward where she was monitored for 4 days. That was when I was given the diagnoses and I asked about what care was available. Home they said, and at that stage she was still mobile and self toileting . The fourth day on that unit was the last time she was able to get out of bed - with 2 nurses. Back on gynae she started to deteriorate and had a catheter / driver/ and oxygen

Social services rang me that Friday to tell me they were looking for a care package - 2 carers twice a day, air bed , oxygen , commode etc and asked if we had a downstairs room large enough of which I did and we did indeed start moving furniture about and that weekend she was given the walker by the physio department and we were sent home with the toilet raiser

Come the Tuesday, it was obvious to a blind man that mum wasnt fit to be moved. SS rang me on the Wednesday to say they hadn't been able to find a care package and were looking for a nursing home . Friday morning I was called to come asap, she was wanting me. Mum never opened her eyes again.

So they had to move her to a side room, the screams of that woman will haunt me. Do not tell me that a driver works controlling the pain, it does if regulary monitored and adjusted. Macmillan team came in, said they had a bed and would I agree to her being moved because although she might not survive the short trolly push to it, if she did they could look after her better there. Again, the screams of her being transferred.

Mum spent a lot of that day in pain , it was probably midnight before they got a good cocktail in place. She was mostly peaceful during the Saturday, probably going 4 hours before getting agitated . The nurses always gave her a wee top up before they attempted personal care to keep her as peaceful as possible

She passed at 3am Sunday . I was with her the whole time

I am forever grateful for the care she and I received.

Dont you sit and say that isnt how it works, because that is the reality of the NHS in NI - its beyond being on its knees

Saddest thing is mum who was mobile and driving right up till the day before admission had been trying for a week to get to see a GP, the earliest appointment was 3 weeks. She posted on her FB page , saying "Three weeks? Ill be dead by then " She was

Yes but she has already applied for a different visa and you can't come on a tourist visa while this application is under way

Apparently the doctor said he was fit to fly- that could change rapidly though. No update from OP yet. She must be in turmoil with all these conflicting posts.

I said that and was told I was “ spouting nonsense” In Scotland it is a different story, apparently!

There is also a big question of whether returning to the uk like this would count as being ordinarily resident within the uk. You are not entitled to free nhs care just because you are a British citizen, you must be ordinarily resident here.

You're right of course, though there's no actual knowing that he'd become critically ill during the journey and require all the things which would cost so much

There's obviously a very high chance however, and that alone would cause many insurers to refuse cover; after all one of the many questions is whether you have a terminal iagnosis and OP can hardly say no

Travel (or any other insurance) is for insuring against the risk that something might happen. You can never insure something that will definitely happen as the insurer knows they will be definitely paying out - so if they were to offer insurance the premium would have to be more than the cost you are insuring against.

This is a really shitty thing to say to someone who had a bad experience.

My ml was diagnosed and given 3 months, gps, nurses,care teams were all great. Sorted all bed etc to be brought to the house within 24hrs..Sadly she only made it 2 weeks from diagnosis but she died happy as she wanted with her family...Was quite amazed it all got into our tiny living room plus all the gear but clearly the teams know what there doing..Wishing you all the best during this hard time.

if he is retired I assume he is on Medicare (Medicaid is for the poor). It does not cover international travel. You need travel insurance for that, and I don't know who would cover in this scenario.

damn it I hit the gif thing by mistake and can't delete it on edit. Please ignore!

Wow that’s impressive. Took local GP service a week to add my DM to my NHS App and a further week to process a prescription, since the pharmacies no longer accept paper prescriptions.

How do you get everything through the system if you don’t have their records?

Would insurance cover as well? I know he wants to come back to Scotland but is that a viable reason for insurance to cover when potential costs could be huge

This.

Find out if he can move then set the care in place, see if it’s manageable/any good, then decide. What plans have you made if he lasts longer than expected?

Or that any doctor would pronounce him fit to fly.

If he is as poorly as you suggest, I would be surprised if an airline would allow him on a standard flight:

You’re determined to convince us that the NHS operates exactly as it should, @Blushingm
You can see why some may be somewhat sceptical…

I’m just saying that it’s incorrect what you say about the drugs in a SPD - there’s no max and a nurse couldn’t set it up off her own back

im not gaslighting anyone.

No - unknown to us til this morning

No it is not. Its balancing the usual MN hysterical scaremongering that everything NHS related is just awful.

And in doing so you told a woman who clearly DID have a really bad experience that she is being irresponsible and daft (and now scaremongering) to talk about it. If she is irresponsible and daft to assume that her experience might mean others have the same - then surely that applies to you too?

The issue here to me isn't the NHS anyway. It is getting this poor man across the atlantic - at the very least a 10 hour gruelling journey door to door (if he is on the US east coast). NHS provision for a new patient newly arrived in the country with no local medical notes, diagnosis or history will be the least of the OP's problems.

@Blushingm was that person in the system already though?