Standard Visitor Visa for Parents (NHS History, need advise please)

[mb2020]

Hello Everyone

Firstly I would like to mention that I have been referring to this board for many many years now, it makes me imagine about the thousands of people this board has massively helped!I believe it is all due to the consistent effort of admins and members for their selfless acts of helping and advising others. A BIG sincere thank you to all.

My parents have been visiting myself and my siblings for more than 10 years now. They always have honoured the restrictions that come with a visitor visa. They currently have a valid 5 year visitor visa which expires in few months from now. I was planning to apply for a 10 year Standard Visitor visa for them but am facing few tricky situations for which I kindly need some advise.

Current situation: Their ages are in late 70s and late 60s and live in India. They have the means to proof that they are financially independent and have plenty of ties back home. All their children are permanently settled in the UK.

NHS history: Since my parents had been visiting for more than 10 years, I cannot remember how but I do know they ended up having NHS numbers a very very long time ago. For the last 9 years or so they never took NHS treatment except occassional GP visits and diabetic tablets for one of my parent, I do not know if they were rightly or wrongly advised that diabetic medication is free for everyone? (because if it is isnt then they would have got enough supplies with them from India or paid for the prescriptions) . One of my parent did consult for a specialist NHS hearing test in Birmingham and received a hearing aid , he paid for the service and for the hearing aid (Cant remember if the invoice was sent to them or my parents had to chase various NHS departments to get an invoice)

Incident: In May 2019 my parent unfortunately had a heart attack on a plane which was at the verge of taking off from London to Spain. The plane had to abandon the take off and turned back to the airport terminal. Ambulance took my parent straight to hospital and was kept under observation in a Cardiac Ward for 5 days and then sent to another hospital for Angiogram and stent procedure and then finally was brought back to the first hospital and got discharged the next day. We waited for more than 6 months and did not receive any invoice. I did some research online and it says Emergency treatment is free for all but they can charge for any service that is not considered as "emergency treatment" and for that they MUST inform upfront the patient/family of the charges that may occur. This never happened to us and no one enquire or informed us anything.

The two tricky questions that have come to my mind before I start preparing to apply for a 10 year visitor visa for them are

a) I found since few years the application form asks if the person has ever undergone NHS treatment and if yes to describe in detail. Am i correct in understanding that UKVI would want details of the heart attack incident ? If yes what documents can I provide to proof that they are not visiting the UK to seek free medical treatment ? Also I thought of contacting the hospital that my parent was taken to by ambulance, but knowing how vast the NHS system I do not even know which department I must contact and what document would I need to prove UKVI there are no outstanding charges due?

b) For the parent who has had diabetic tablets in the past from the GP, if the parent was correctly provided free diabetic tablets what document do we need to prove that there are no outstanding charges due and if there really are charges that we were not aware of we would be happy to clear the dues , but again document would UKVI need to prove the same once the amount has been cleared?

Please advise

Many thanks

[iwolga]

I don't know the answers to all your questions, but as a thought: were you buying travel insurance (medical) for your parents? If this is the case, I would include it into the supporting papers.

When asked at the check in in hospital, what did you right re "do you have an insurance to pay for the treatment should it be required"? Would also help if you stated "yes, I have travel insurance".

[mb2020]

Hi Iwolga

Thanks for you reply. They had travel insurance for the journey from London to Spain and back. They did not have any other travel insurance.

Since everything happened so quickly and the ambulance had been called near the plane, they were not offered any forms to fill which asked questions about their insurance

[mb2020]

Hi All

Can few more people with knowledge on this , kindly advise.? Really need suggestions I am finding it tricky as what needs to be done .

Thanks

[blondesafari]

I'm curious as to why you had travel insurance for your elderly parents for their trip to Spain, but not for their trips to the UK? Is it because you don't care that the UK taxpayers will have to pay for medical treatment for your parents? Don't you think this is wrong? The NHS is a national healthcare service for UK residents, not for everyone's elderly parents coming from all over the world. This is the reason why we, as immigrants now have to pay IHS fees and why the NHS is bankrupt.

[iwolga]

I'm curious as to why you had travel insurance for your elderly parents for their trip to Spain, but not for their trips to the UK? Is it because you don't care that the UK taxpayers will have to pay for medical treatment for your parents? Don't you think this is wrong? The NHS is a national healthcare service for UK residents, not for everyone's elderly parents coming from all over the world. This is the reason why we, as immigrants now have to pay IHS fees and why the NHS is bankrupt.

Part of it because there's no obligatory insurance requirement for visit visa to UK as opposed to Schengen visas. I'm puzzled why HO isn't asking for insurance at any stage of application.

Having said that, the OP is asking for advice rather than preaching from us. Having NHS number, GP visits, hearing tests, diabetes pills is not helping with your parents' visit visa. I don't know re emergency situation as your parents shall have medical insurance to cover emergencies but probably this isn't punishable on it's own.

Not only they were using NHS when they shouldn't be doing it, they also can be seen as residing in UK through a series of visits.

But this all already happened, so best you can do is apply and see what's going to be the result. Maybe if they get their visas, you'll get the insurance for them. Perhaps it'll be also worth taking pills with them next time.

[mb2020]

I'm curious as to why you had travel insurance for your elderly parents for their trip to Spain, but not for their trips to the UK? Is it because you don't care that the UK taxpayers will have to pay for medical treatment for your parents? Don't you think this is wrong? The NHS is a national healthcare service for UK residents, not for everyone's elderly parents coming from all over the world. This is the reason why we, as immigrants now have to pay IHS fees and why the NHS is bankrupt.

'm curious as to why you had travel insurance for your elderly parents for their trip to Spain, but not for their trips to the UK? Is it because you don't care that the UK taxpayers will have to pay for medical treatment for your parents? Don't you think this is wrong? The NHS is a national healthcare service for UK residents, not for everyone's elderly parents coming from all over the world. This is the reason why we, as immigrants now have to pay IHS fees and why the NHS is bankrupt.
[/quote]

Thanks for your reply . I got the insurance to Spain because after some extensive search I had found one which they were eligible for (most uk travel / medical insurance do not cover people who are not ordinarily resident in the UK) .

If you read my original post , they voluntarily chased
multiple times the hearing aid clinic to receive an invoice and when they eventually received it they fully paid it . Do you think we would have done that had we not respected the fact that secondary care in NHS is not for overseas visitors for free and had intentions to abuse the system?

In regards to them having an NHS number is because they got registered more than 10 years ago , I was a student then and I think there was not enough awareness then about all this (at least to me). Many GP surgeries ( I keep moving home due to work and specially in smaller towns) till couple of years ago were not clear themselves who can and cannot have an NHS number and the treatment they must pay for.

I had explored Insurance policies for my parents in their home country online , but due to their old age many did not cover. I was told by people if you want to get a insurance cover for people above 75 years I would need to go to India and visit insurance brokers to check if I can get one (if at all). Some even discouraged me saying if God forbid a claim did arise Insurance companies make it very difficult for the patient in reimbursing or paying the NHS as they would ask dozens of documents which the patients might not be able to produce . So I had decided to treat them privately had they got health issues in the UK (I care about the UK tax payers as I am one too and like most of us don't want the NHS to to be abused)

The incident that happened to my parent on the airport runway was purely an emergency in which the ambulnce had to be called. Live saving emergency care is still free for everyone and overseas visitors are eligible too, however what is not clear is at what point during the treatment the NHS considers the patient is out of imminent danger and needs to pay for the rest of the treatment !