Moving continents while pregnant

[EnglishBreakfastTea]

Firstly, thankyou for reading and I'm sorry if I've posted in the wrong topic! I will be moving back to the UK having spent the last 3 years in sunny Australia. The problem is, I'll be 17 weeks pregnant with my 2nd baby when we move. We will be staying with parents / friends until the contents of our house arrives (roughly 6 weeks) then we have to go through the process finding a place to live. My question is this - I will have to have my 20 week scan a couple of weeks after I arrive home, is it possible to go private for this without a doctors referral? I have a GP here who would be able to give me all relevant information to pass onto my new doctor but can't do a referral for another country. I don't want to register with a GP / midwife until I'm sure of the area we will be living in - or would it be wise to register straight away and then transfer? Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Wow, what a journey! Are you looking forward to coming back?
Congratulations on your pregnancy. There's lots of places where you can get the anomaly scan done privately, expect to pay between £100 and £200 for it depending on the company. Babybond get consistently good reviews on here. The only thing I can think of is that the nhs tend not to accept private scan results. I think the window for the 20 week scan is between 18 and 22 weeks so it may not hurt to give the nearest gp and hospital to where you are staying a call as they may book you in.
Good luck with the move!

As you were working abroad for less than five years you should still be eligible for free care.

I would self-refer to the midwives on day 1 of being back in the UK (if you can do that in your area, in quite a lot you can do that without even going to the GP - if you look up the maternity services for the area you will be staying in it will say on their website) and ring them and explain the situation. In fact, I might be tempted to do that prior to moving, just to see what they say. Given how far along you are they may well be able to squeeze you in quickly for an appointment for pretty soon after being back and refer you for a 20 week scan in time, though I think you'd have to be there in person to do the paperwork for that as you have to sign something. I don't imagine it would be a huge issue with transferring areas later on, people must move all the time, I think it's more important to be getting good antenatal care ASAP (I know it's your second so you know what you're doing, but I think it's important to be registered in case you have any urgent concerns or issues, then you can just contact the midwife directly)!

But failing that, regarding the scan there are lots of private clinics around that will do scans in major cities generally, we had one at 8 weeks at a chain called This Is My and were really impressed by them, would have gladly gone back to them if we'd wanted a second scan.

Also, good luck with the move!

Great, thanks Nousername, that's really useful I'll take a look at those companies. I suppose I can try and get a hospital to see me but not sure they'll do that without a GP referral, I'll give it a try though. Seems a pain that the hospital won't accept a private scan!

Caramel, yes, I'm British so entitled to NHS care, i've only been abroad for work but continued to pay UK tax etc. We will be house hunting from day 1 but as my husband isn't joining me until 4 weeks after I arrive I won't be able to commit to anything without him

Thanks Moose, knew as I'd been away for less than 5yrs there shouldn't be too many issues, just a case of getting back in the system I suppose!

Thanks Valancy!!!!