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Type 1 NHS and Insulin Question

Minichef

Minichef

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi Everybody!

Hope everyone is doing well!

I have a question on the NHS, and Insulin.

Just some background info first!

I am a British citizen, and have lived abroad pretty much all my life. In 2008 I lived in London for a year, to study and get my NI and get on the NHS system.
Moved back to Zimbabwe in 2009.
I was diagnosed Type 1 in 2012, and have been on insulin since. I am on a great, but expensive medical aid, that takes care of my all my medication, doctors, and hospital treatments. It has been very good to me!

I decided to move back to London last year, August, hoping to take advantage of the more modern treatments for my diabetes.
Whilst there I got a good job, and started to "settle down". I had arrived with a good stock of Insulin pens. My little cooler, with all my pens, needles and
glucometer were stolen, very bleak, but i had all my doctors letters, and went to the pharmacy to get more Insulin, no such luck, and was told I needed to see a doctor to get a prescription. When I found a doctor who would see me, he said no to a prescription, and said I would have to be re-diagnosed (exact words).
A bit annoyed, I left it and went days without insulin. I was admitted to hospital with DKA after my friends found me passed out in vomit.
While in hospital, a lady came to get my details, and asked about my residency, after telling her I have just moved back, and never really been a resident, I was told I would be billed for my treatment. I was a bit confused, thinking NHS was free for me, I asked why, and was told that I had only come back for the free NHS, and that I had to be a resident. Not having a permanent address yet did not help my case. After complaining I was released without a bill.
While I was there, I did speak with a lady (I think she was a nurse) who gave me a bunch of free insulin pens and a new glucometer.
She told me that in order to get free treatment on NHS, i needed to register with a doctor. Ok, fine, easy enough. Then she told me in order to get free Insulin, I needed to be a UK resident for 10 years first. What! And that's when i decided to move back to Zimbabwe!
The last straw was the day before my flight, which included a 7 day holiday in Portugal, I ran out of needles, off to the pharmacy to buy some, was then told, no, you need a prescription. A prescription for insulin pen needles. No sympathy, even when I told them that I might die!
Had to use a syringe and draw it out. Luckily Dubai airport had them.

Back in Zimbabwe, my medical aid took me in immediately, lucky!

Sorry, forgot to add that I did find a Zimbabwean NHS doctor who did help me buy a pen from the NHS pharmacy. Paid 40 quid.
And sorry for the rant!

So my questions.

1. Is it really true about the free insulin? Do I have to be a resident for 10 years first? NHS website says so, but I have heard conflicting stories.
2. Why would a pharmacy, and doctor refuse to give me insulin, when I had letters from my doctor and my past hba1c results.
3. Has anyone else had similar problems?

Thanks!!
 
1. Is it really true about the free insulin? Do I have to be a resident for 10 years first? NHS website says so, but I have heard conflicting stories. Yes alwise we'd have people comming over here using our service and then ******* of.

2. Why would a pharmacy, and doctor refuse to give me insulin, when I had letters from my doctor and my past hba1c results.
Documents can be forged did you have travel insurance ect?
 
1) a pharmacist cannot give out drugs or needles without a valid prescription - a letter from a dr overseas they have never heard of simply isn't enough & the pharmacist would be breaking the law & lose their profession

2) to be eligible for for primary treatment in the NHS including registration with a GP to be reviewed for a prescription for the insulin and needles you need to be ordinarily resident in the UK. The best information I can find on the eligibility criteria is the first result if you google "brunston and lydbrook practice + overseas visitors".
 
Hi @Minichef , it is quite a simple situation regarding visitors from overseas and accessing the NHS. NHS healthcare is only free to 'ordinarily residents' of the UK and whilst you say you are a 'British Citezen', by your own admission you don't live in the UK, have only paid UK tax and NI for a year and one of the main reasons for coming to visit the UK was to access free treatment. Respectfully I have to ask, why do you think you should be entitled to get treatment for free in the UK? If the situation was reversed and I visited Zimbabwe, I would have to pay for my health care and would have organised the relevant insurance to cover any potential situation. As for the pharmacy issues you encountered, @catapillar has already explained the situation regarding prescriptions.
Saying that, the NHS will treat anyone regardless of their 'status' in an emergency situation so I can only presume it was felt you did not fit that criteria at the time.
 
I think you were a bit unlucky. I'm not sure you really need a prescription for needles; you can buy them on Amazon.co.uk? I'm sure my local pharmacy would provide emergency insulin and needles to someone who could demonstrate they were T1. Equally I suspect my local surgery would have issued an emergency script.
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies! I kind of understand now.

@catapillar , I looked that up, and did some more research following the links, guess I should have done that first.
I do see their points.

I still pay voluntary contributions, and so does my mom. But just seen that that doesn't count. Wondering why we pay them? It was recommended to me when I left.

The reason I asked the questions in the first place was because I was having an argument with my sister, who said I was entitled to it, and I shouldn't have come back.

@mrspuddleduck , I said to take advantage of MODERN treatments, as Zimbabwe is said to be 15 years behind.
I was not "visiting" the UK
I was there to live, to become a resident! My birth right, is it not?
My grandparents still live there, I mean my whole family and ancestry is British.

On the insulin side, how would a tourist with diabetes get their insulin, "I'm backpacking around England, gotta carry 15 pens with me"
I had everything the doc said I needed. And when I first went to the pharmacy, I knew I was going to have to pay for the insulin.
And 40 quid for a pen, when the exact one is 12us$ here, that's a joke! But still willing to pay for the medication that keeps me alive!

I do not see how any UK expat with diabetes is able to return.

I think my best bet is to renounce my citizenship, move to Sudan, find my way to Paris, then sneak over through the channel tunnel, and become an illegal immigrant, hey! Free housing, free NHS and a weekly allowance!
Kidding!!

But thank you for the responses, my questions were answered.

Have a great night, stay low!
 
Minichef said:
Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies! I kind of understand now.

@catapillar , I looked that up, and did some more research following the links, guess I should have done that first.
I do see their points.

I still pay voluntary contributions, and so does my mom. But just seen that that doesn't count. Wondering why we pay them? It was recommended to me when I left.

The reason I asked the questions in the first place was because I was having an argument with my sister, who said I was entitled to it, and I shouldn't have come back.

@mrspuddleduck , I said to take advantage of MODERN treatments, as Zimbabwe is said to be 15 years behind.
I was not "visiting" the UK
I was there to live, to become a resident! My birth right, is it not?
My grandparents still live there, I mean my whole family and ancestry is British.

On the insulin side, how would a tourist with diabetes get their insulin, "I'm backpacking around England, gotta carry 15 pens with me"
I had everything the doc said I needed. And when I first went to the pharmacy, I knew I was going to have to pay for the insulin.
And 40 quid for a pen, when the exact one is 12us$ here, that's a joke! But still willing to pay for the medication that keeps me alive!

I do not see how any UK expat with diabetes is able to return.

I think my best bet is to renounce my citizenship, move to Sudan, find my way to Paris, then sneak over through the channel tunnel, and become an illegal immigrant, hey! Free housing, free NHS and a weekly allowance!
Kidding!!

But thank you for the responses, my questions were answered.

Have a great night, stay low!
Click to expand...

Please don't think I necessarily agree with the system @Minichef I was just trying to explain it. In fact my family are in a similar position to you, living abroad in non EU countries they face the same challenges when they come back to the UK. I believe the system is going to be tightened further in the near future, sadly I don't think a British passport counts for a lot these days!
 
The person who told you to register with a GP was correct but I don't think that she was correct about the 10 years. Read the information and decide for yourself.
"Provision of free NHS treatment is on the basis of being ordinarily resident and is not dependent upon nationality, payment of UK taxes, national insurance (NI) contributions, being registered with a GP, having an NHS number or owning property in the UK. Ordinarily resident means, broadly speaking, living in the UK on a lawful and properly settled basis for the time being http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutN...and/Pages/moving-to-england-from-the-eea.aspx "
Therefore, If you are a UK citizen and have right of abode in the UK and you could demonstrate that you are an 'ordinary resident' and 'properly settled for the time being' then you should not be charged.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/346908/Appendix_6.pdf
You can in fact be ordinarily resident from the first day of arrival but you have to demonstrate it (see the guidance in the document linked below) It sounds as if the hospital thought that you had not moved to the UK with the intention of residence. And from what you say here you do give that impression.
However:
"In the past, the Department of Health has suggested that someone who has been here for less than six months is less likely to meet the ‘settled’ criterion of the ordinary residence description, but this is only a guideline. For a British citizen or EEA national (and for a nonEEA national with ILR, or a non-EEA national not subject to immigration control), it is perfectly possible to be ordinarily resident here from the day of arrival, when it is clear that that person has, upon arrival, taken up settled residence. In each case, it is for the relevant NHS body to decide whether the criteria within the ordinary residence description are met. A tool has also been developed to assist them in considering whether an individual is properly settled in the UK in order to establish ordinary residence status.

Ordinary residence : Chapter 3 (very vague in some places)
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...enting_overseas_charging_regulations_2015.pdf
Here is the 'tool' and guidance for hospitals https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/430967/OR_Tool__1_.pdf
 
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