are we entitled to free health treatment??immediate pls

Ammara Ali · Post by **Ammara Ali** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:25 pm

hello all!

we (entire family,my husband and 2 kids)moved here on 03/01/2008. my visa status is HSMP(main applicant). i am pregnant and my baby is due in march(this month). we all are registered to local health service(GP). my GP reffered me to NHS general hospital and today after one month of pregnancy related treatments they told me that i have to pay for all the treatments i received so far and till delivery as i have not started working yet and according to my visa status I should start working as soon as i reached here. how can i start working if i dont get a job. i have started job search as soon as we reached here and telling that i may not be available immediately. i had offer from one place but hospital is not ready to accept the document of contract later. now what i need to know is keeping in mind my scenario am i not entitled to fre health service even though new entrant service informed me that i am. it would be great if anyone of you could guide me. time is not so far and they charged me about 1000 pounds for just 3 to 4 visits. for c-section demanding 3000pounds and for normal 2000pounds. Please guide.

many thanks,

Ammara

vinay shanthi · Post by **vinay shanthi** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:41 pm

see link for answers http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Enti ... /index.htm

Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. â€œOrdinarily residentâ€

sakura · Post by **sakura** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:02 pm

The tricky situation is that, I presume you won't want to work immediately after the baby is born, so that would be another few months of leave. Since you won't be entitled to any maternity benefits, how would you cope?

Why did you move so late into the pregnancy, instead of waiting a few months?

Ammara Ali · Post by **Ammara Ali** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:00 pm

I am afraid that we r going to face big issue. but hope will be solved. thanks for ur concerns but the situation was not in our support there and we had to move here. anyways thanks those sites helped.

i would like to ask one more thing if anyone could help please. I am the main applicant (HSMP) and my husband accompanied spouse. if he is in work then am i entitled to free NHS treatment or the main applicant should be in wrking condition. my husband is looking for job actively and engaged in interviews. he might get some offer soon. he had two offers from two companies but he refused coz of relocaton issue. at that time we had no idea that situation will become more complex. anyways now our main concern is whether any one of us could be in job for free NHS treatment or main applicant should only be???

thanks for ur help

vinay shanthi · Post by **vinay shanthi** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:22 pm

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Enti ... /DH_074374

[quote]Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. â€œOrdinarily residentâ€

vinay shanthi · Post by **vinay shanthi** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:12 pm

also look at www.cemach.org.uk just briefly. they investigate hospitals for poor care of mothers. it is a very influential organisation that can make or break hospitals image in public and media.

it is an organisation that has a lot of say in saving mothers lifes and improving health and maternal outcomes in uk.

email them at info@cemach.org.uk or call at 0207 4861191 or fax at 0207 4866543 and inform them about your situation. inform them about the hsmp visa and that it requires you to make uk your main home and only after that do you get the hsmp visa and entry to uk.

also include an extract of my message above with links which say person normally resident in uk is entitled to free care (the part coloured in red in my message above). inform them that various nhs trusts are deliberately misinterpreting fees rules and charging legal migrants like you and ask them to investigate for their next report this issue as well as to whether this fee charging illegaly for legal migrants is having adverse outcomes in mothers and babies. in the latest cemach report published december 2007 it was shown that migrant mothers had poorer outcomes and had higher risks than others. point out and ask whether care is denied by wrongly applying the fees rules and thus impacting maternal outcomes.

write a letter to the chief executive of the hospital that charged you and inform that you have reported their hospital for charging you charges illegally and also mention you are reporting that hospital to cemach for illegally charging you and thus impacting your medical acreduring pregnancy by forcing you not to have medical care when needed unless emergency. also incluude copies of info on charging rules and also hsmp visas and why you should not have been charged and also inform that you will be looking out for probono lawyers to take up your case and that you will involve PALs (patient advisory liason services) as well.

see if this works. hope this helps your situation. do let us know if things work out. best of luck

Ammara Ali · Post by **Ammara Ali** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:11 pm

well, our problem has been solved so far. As i found the answer of my second query. It may help someone else like me. I called at different departments and got the information that for getting free NHS treatment you must have the legal right to work in the UK and also importantly you should be working. now any one of us, either my husband (accompaned spouse) or me (HSMP visa holder) should be working here in UK, not necessarily the main applicant. we would have to show the proof of our relation and also that we are living together. so Thanks to God problem has been solved so far as my husband got the job. but still vinay your suggestions are really helpful as still I have to do something about the charges that hospital charged for the treatment i had so far due to lack of info.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

vinay shanthi · Post by **vinay shanthi** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:34 pm

good luck. but what proof do you have they have said this. send them an email and use reply as proof or fax and ask them to fax back reply. u need proof of the requirements. half the people collecting the bills wont know all the exmpting clauses. best of luck

OFCHARITY · Post by **OFCHARITY** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:06 am

It is shocking to me to find out that persons on work visas are only entitled to NHS Hospital treatment while they are actually in employment. An HSMP holder who has been working and paying taxes for years could find himself between jobs at some point and God forbids, he needs hospital treatment during this time, it might be a nasty shock to many to find they have to pay for such treatment. Well you live and you learn!

olisun · Post by **olisun** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:56 am

OFCHARITY wrote:It is shocking to me to find out that persons on work visas are only entitled to NHS Hospital treatment while they are actually in employment. An HSMP holder who has been working and paying taxes for years could find himself between jobs at some point and God forbids, he needs hospital treatment during this time, it might be a nasty shock to many to find they have to pay for such treatment. Well you live and you learn!

You are unnecessarily jumping to conclusions...

Read the OP's first post, she came in the UK at the begining of this year, was pregnant and was not working.... And hence it made her life very difficult...

olisun · Post by **olisun** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:57 am

vinay shanthi wrote:also look at www.cemach.org.uk just briefly. they investigate hospitals for poor care of mothers. it is a very influential organisation that can make or break hospitals image in public and media.

Are you a lawyer or member of a political organisation???

vinay shanthi · Post by **vinay shanthi** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:29 pm

olisun wrote:
vinay shanthi wrote:also look at www.cemach.org.uk just briefly. they investigate hospitals for poor care of mothers. it is a very influential organisation that can make or break hospitals image in public and media.
Are you a lawyer or member of a political organisation???

no olisun, i am just another person browsing the net like u

ps: i am not a lawyer and neither am i a member of any political organisation

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are we entitled to free health treatment??immediate pls

are we entitled to free health treatment??immediate pls

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