Post
by NT1234 » Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:45 am
Nazz,
Yes you mother will be able to access GP and any other NHS service free of charge. There is absolutely no restriction on her visa - there is no resource to public fund restriction. Its the same visa as ILR if you're here already, and you would be entitled to NHS etc.
This is one of the reasons why its a very difficult visa to obtain as there is no restriction on what you can do and get-you are entitled to the use of NHS free of charge. I must say this though to you that there is test they apply and thats whats called an ordinary resident. She has to show that she intend to make the UK her home. Reading the requirement of this sounds worse than it is so i can tell you there is nothing to worry about.
Take her to your GP with her passport and a proof of address, register her and in a week time you are going to get a letter from some other department . i cant quite remember what they are called (think some kind of foreign office dept) but they essentially make sure the NHS service is not being use free of charge by people who this should not be for. So immediately as you register her with a local GP this will trigger some kind of response by this department and they are going to ask you to send in a copy of her passport, and i cant quite remember if proof of address too.
Though you would have provided this for the GP when register, these people/department dont seem to communicate with each other. Provide the evidence they've asked for and you are fine.
I had to do this for my mum in the past few months. She is registered with the local GP, Specialist at the hospital (this is when i got the letter from the foreign office dept so you may not even get this if its just the GP you want to register her at as they would have taken all the evidence at the GP at the time but maybe you'll still get this as it could be a normal procedure).
Happy festive season with the family and your mother - i know how special this is.