Non-resident medical treatment?

[banana87]

My mom is visiting from the US and has a UTI which Cystopurin is not curing, so needs to see a GP to get antibiotics. It can wait til tomorrow, but who do I phone? Will my GP see her or do I need to take her to a walk in clinic? Or phone a private GP? Any ideas??

GPs usually accept people on a temporary basis - they have to fill in a form. Not sure if this also applies to non-Europeans, but give them a call first thing or call NHS Direct now.

Thanks, will phone my GP first thing.

It would need to be private.
If you contact your GP practice in the morning and ask them if they will see her on a private basis, it should hopefully be straightforward.
Does your mum have any travel insurance that covers health? If so then if she gets a receipt for the payment she may be able to claim the cost back from her insurance company.

Nope, she didnt bother with travel insurance despite the fact that I told her to! Shouldn't cost to much though, should it?

I think that around £40 is a common fee for the consultation, and then she would have to pay for the drugs at the pharmacy if needed (most antibiotics are not expensive).

If your GP won't see her then phone the local private hospital as they often have one on call. We once took our (then) baby son there when he had something that needed a prescription and we didn't want to wait for a locum or go to A & E.

Tell your Mum to take with any medication that she is on with her to the GP visit so that the Dr can prescribe something that doesn't conflict.

Your gp has a duty to treat ACUTE illness if she is a US citizen under Reciprocal Arrangement guidelines. Means that UK and US agree to see each others citizens under same statute of care as if they were from that country, - we offer free nhs consultation to her and also an nhs prescription (£7ish or free if over 60) if antibiotics are prescribed. We would get standard US care if we were taken ill over there.
However she would NOT be entitled to nhs treatment or repeat medication for pre-existing illnesses, this would need to be on a private basis.
Hope this helps.

Are you sure Ethelina?

This website says that there is no reciprocal agreement with the US:

link

And the Department of Health doesnt list the US as a having a reciprocal agreement:

nhs

The tiger speaks truth. Yanks get spanked for cash, just like we would over t'other side of pond.

Yep, there is no reciprocal agreement, I know because I am American and seem to always come down with something when I visit (thank god for travel insurance!) and I do have to pay. My GP wouldn't see her but I found a local private GP who would, for £50 which I think is reasonable. Thanks for your replies!