New Arrival in UK - redbook, immunisation and health visitor

[abunoor]

Hi everyone,

My brother has arrived recently from India with a son (1 year old) and went to GP for registration (after completing his self-isolation of-course). He is on a long-stay visa.

When asked the admin at GP about red book, he was told he won't receive a red book as it is only issued for babies born in the UK and his son won't be assigned/allocated a health visitor, again for the same reason.

Can someone shed some light on this?

Also what about child immunisation? His son had some injections while in India but he may not have received everything as per the UK list of immunisation.

I am new here so apologies if this is not the correct topic for posting my question.

It may depend a bit on where you are, but I’m in the midlands and here the last standard health visitor check takes place between 9 months and one year. There’s a check at around two that is usually done at nursery, I’m not sure that you get it if you don’t attend. The red book wouldn’t be much use without the previous data at this point either; I think they’re only really filled in until one.

Does your brother have records of what immunisations his child has had? I’d expect that sharing those with the doctor would let them set up any missing ones, although there might be a delay at the moment because of Covid.

There’s very little need for a red book as it doesn’t really serve a purpose. Similarly 1 year olds don’t need specific health visitors. He can register with the local children’s centre and access groups etc there.

The NHS schedule of vaccinations is on the internet - he should get reminders when the DC is due one as he’s registered with the GP. If he doesn’t then he can make an appointment for whatever’s needed but it’s pretty automatic.

We were assigned a health visitor, and had a visit, when we arrived in the UK. We were also asked for a vaccination record so they could check none were missing. Weren’t given a red book though.

I have a one year old and I have no idea where his red book is and we haven't seen a HV for 6 months+ so I don't think either of those are needed. In terms of immunisations, you should be able to work our what has/hasn't been given and book in for those with the nurse

A big thank you to everyone for your time and answers, they do really help.

@ShellsAndSunrises - he does have file sort of with immunisations listed on them, so I guess after registration confirmation, he will have to make a visit to GP and sort out any missing immunisations.

The GP should make an appointment I'm guessing this may be a phone call at the moment and go through any difference in vaccinations and issue them
Your nephew should be allocated a health visitor. They arent employed by the same organisation so I assume the registration will need to be sent though to the health visits who should be in touch. They should so a welcome visit then you would have a check around 2.5 I think?

After the first few the visits are at 9mth-1yr so they may combine that with a welcome visit to explain the service and see if the family need any help. I imagine this would be like the prebirth visit that some areas health visitors do

When we moved country, we made a list in the local language of all the immunisations my son had already had and their dates, along with the official vaccine sheet. Maybe in India it was already in two languages including English? The immunisations will be organised at the GP so worth calling to check on that. Unfortunately in the UK, children do not have a specialised paediatrician who follows them. There are no routine weight and height checks etc after the first nine months, so it is largely up to the parent to contact the GP if they think something is amiss. Letters are sent for immunisations but in your case I would definitely be phoning. Apparently there is another check at 2/2.5 years, but we had already moved before that so I'm not sure!