Going away on Friday, forgot to get baby Ghic card

[squaredreams]

Any advice on what to do
I've emailed the Ghic helpline to add my son to my Ghic card account as I've completely forgotten before now. I'll try to phone Tomo but to stop my mind whirring I thought I'd ask here.

They won't get back to me before we leave.
My baby is 11 months and generally healthy but it makes me nervous not travelling with the card

(Yes I should have done this earlier, this was a last minute holiday and it completely slipped my mind)

Does anyone have any insight into what happens if you get ill abroad without Ghic card?

We presume we just pay for treatment needed? We have travel insurance.

Are there any allowances for children under one? Would a PRC work if you'd not applied for a card

The rest of the family have Ghic cards if that helps.

Once you have applied, you have the number needed, and can claim. Should be pretty quick in my experience.
You should also get travel insurance, as GHic doesn't cover everything

I've never had one, not saying this is necessarily the best approach, but it's never been an issue and we've travelled a lot. Presumably you have travel insurance to cover any emergency medical issues.

This. If you needed treatment, you’d be able to get a PRC so long as you’ve applied for the GHIC: www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/get-healthcare-cover-travelling-abroad/get-temporary-cover-emergency-treatment-abroad-provisional-replacement-certificate

Travel insurance will cover your baby.

Yes that's my understanding - a few years ago mine didn't arrive in time and I spoke to someone on their helpline who confirmed that as he application was underway, I'd be treated anyway.

Order one now and note down the number. Child cards normally have to be ordered alongside an adult so you may need to renew yours at same time.

Check your travel insurance documents, some policies have t&c where everyone must have a GHIC, and they only cover healthy costs that aren't covered by it.

You should be fine as long as you’ve got insurance. DS hit his head at a waterpark in Spain, needed stitches but we’d left the GHIC card at the hotel and it was miles away. We just paid for the treatment then claimed it back on the insurance. The only problem was obviously we had to pay the excess.

Four or five years ago I had quite a dramatic fall while on holiday in Greece. I hadn't renewed my E111, as I (wrongly) thought that since we had left the EU it would no longer apply.

I had an ambulance from my accommodation to the local doctor, while strapped to a back board, another ambulance from the nearest big island, a ferry ride in the ambulance then on to the hospital. I was seen within minutes of arriving in A+E, a catheter fitted, a ct scan and a bed for the night.

I got an email from the British Embassy on the island, telling me to email details (they listed what would be needed) to a named person in the hospital and they could arrange an emergency card temporarily until I got home.

I was charged nothing for that care.

So I wouldn't panic just yet. It's likely that nothing will happen, and if it does then there may be ways and means to get around the bureaucracy.

As said, travel insurance assumes you will have a GHIC and may not cover all your expenses without one. However, don't panic, you don't need the physical card. Apply online and you will get the information including the GHIC number. Take the details with you, they will be sufficient. My son ended up in hospital in Switzerland having forgotten to renew his EHIC (pre-Brexit version) and the travel insurance people were very helpful in getting it renewed on his behalf so all was well.

I'm going to try to get them added this week, I've already emailed but will try to find a photo number. If I can't do it before we travel on Friday I'll just be braced to have to cover any expenses should we need to. (And hope we don't need to)

I applied late and got a reference number to use if needed, so do it now. My card arrived within two weeks, but had i needed it, I had a print out from the website with my number with me.

It took about 24 hours to get the number, and it was this time of year, so not so busy.

You have travel insurance though?

We have never used the Ghic but always had travel insurance.

Depending on the country, your GHIC might not cover some healthcare providers and your travel insurance might not cover others.

For example, in Spain the health system is very much like the UK. There is a public system like the NHS, and a private system like BUPA etc. The public system will take your GHIC and give you free treatment, but if you go to a public health centre without a GHIC (or equivalent proof of NHS entitlement) and try to pay, you'll find that you can't and they will send you to a private clinic (unless you're bleeding out on the spot, of course).

On the other hand, in France there really isn't a private/public distinction. You pay the doctor's fee, etc, and claim it back later. Note that you may end up having to pay something out of pocket even with the GHIC because the deal is that you pay the same as a local, not the same as you do at home (usually zero with the NHS), and the French system doesn't always reimburse 100% of the costs. Your travel insurance ought to pick up the difference, though.

Yes got travel insurance. I forgot I needed to get the baby a Ghic as the rest of the family had them and so was "done" in my head.

Do this @squaredreams . Apply online, they send you an acknowledgement email which has a reference number. The number is all you need

I need to add my child to my application so it's not an application I don't think, I've done the email request but their response times aren't looking promising

Phoning them was really quick all sorted and I've got the reference number for them ready to go away

Excellent!