Back to the UK for birth

Thank you for your responses. Very helpful to read given how much I am panicking! DubaiCat do you mind if I ask how much you had to pay - interested to know given the terrible experience I had in the London maternity wards last time round. Each midwife visit was GBP25, then I paid GBP250 for some monitoring at the hospital and an appointment with the obstetrician. A friend who lived in Kuwait had an emergency C-section there last year and was sent a bill for just over GBP7,000. ETA: The leaflets I was given to establish entitlement said it was all based on residency, nothing else. I'll see if I can find the link to them online. <em>edited by DubaiCat on 14/02/2012</em>

when I enquired I was told that it has nothing to do with Ni contributions but all to do if you are ordinarily resident in the Uk and if not how long you have been living outside.This link may explain it better http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/MediaCentre/Factsheets/DH_123858 . ETA On an old thread in 2009 a lady had posted a personal reply she had from the NHS regarding this here DE00000412917 Dear Ms Philbin, Thank you for your recent email to the Department of Health about access to the NHS. The NHS is first and foremost for the benefit of people living in this country. Entitlement to access free NHS hospital treatment is based on whether someone is ordinarily resident in the UK , not on British nationality or the past or present payment of National Insurance contributions or UK taxes. Anyone who is not ordinarily resident is subject to the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989, as amended. These regulations place a responsibility on NHS hospitals to establish whether a person is ordinarily resident, or exempt from charges under one of a number of exemption categories, or liable for charges. I can confirm that one such exemption applies to anyone working abroad for not more than five years as long as they have lived legally in the UK for ten continuous years at some point (including self-employed people). This will allow for free full NHS hospital treatment, including maternity care. For a full list of the categories of exemption, please see the enclosed leaflet Are you visiting the UK ?. As you are aware, the Department’s website also has information on this matter at the following link: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074379 I am sorry if the response to your friend (our ref: [ '>) did not make this clear. In all cases, the decision on whether someone is ordinarily resident, or exempt from charges, or chargeable, lies with the NHS Trust providing treatment. They must make that decision based on the evidence provided by the patient and in accordance with the charging regulations. With regard to primary care services while visiting the UK, a person may approach any GP practice within the area they are residing and ask to be accepted as a NHS patient. GP practices are free to decide which patients they accept on to their list of NHS patients. They are, however more likely to accept a person if they are intending to live in the UK on a settled basis (at least six months). If the practice does not wish to accept a person on to its list of NHS patients, the practice may offer to treat them as a patient on a private, paying basis. During a person’s visit to the UK, if they require treatment that a GP or healthcare professional regards as emergency or immediately necessary, including pregnancy related conditions, they will receive that treatment free of charge, regardless of whether they are registered with a GP practice or not. I hope this reply is helpful. Yours sincerely, Deepa Shah Customer Service Centre Department of Health the link to the full thread is http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=68964 <em>edited by michamen on 14/02/2012</em>

If you have communicated with your GP and the midwife it shouldn't be a problem. I had to have all the blood work done again but other than that everything was fine. We have kept up our NI contributions though so maybe that does make a difference.

Nutty i pay my my NI direct debit every month, but its not 300, it must work out about 120 as its 10 or 12 pounds a month, is this the same do you think? Does that mean i might not have to pay, do you have a reference where i can get this info? Thanks again

I looked into this when was expecting DD and was told as long as my NI contributions are up to date which they were (300 GBP/year) then i wouldn't be classed as an overseas visitor.

Im travelling back to the UK in 4 weeks time(fingers crossed) to deliver in mid April in the Cambridge Area. I was imformed that being an expat for over 5 years i would have to pay for any treatment i have, unless of course Emergency, as a Brit Citizen you are seen. All that is required is that i register at the Dr's surgury locally to me and then they book you in for delivery and slap you with a bill at the end of all of it. Unless as the other poster has mentioned, you can prove your a resident,which i cant. I received an e-mail from the local hospital when i made enquires about cost,if you would like to take a look let me know and post your e-mail i'll forward it on. It must vary from hospital to hospital but will give you a rough idea. If in the mean time anyone else has any info please share..... TIA

I went back in September last year to give birth .... I'd been registered with my GP since I was a child but obviously he hadn't seen me for a while as I'd moved here about 2 years prior to giving birth. I went back at 36 weeks and had appointments every week until the birth. I ended up getting a letter from NHS saying I was classed as an overseas visitor and was not entitled to free Nhs care unless I can prove otherwise. I have sent my evidence so let's see what happens. There is a chance I'll have to pay so it isn't that straight forward .... Some issues can arise.

I went home last summer in the middle of my pregnancy as my dad was ill, and we weren't sure if I would have to stay there for delivery. I had to register as a temporary patient at my local GP clinic then they booked me in for the birth at the obstetric unit in my nearest city. It was all very easy once I'd got in touch with the local community midwife. I had to repeat some of the tests I'd had done in Dubai, but mainly because I only had my ante-natal booklet and not copies of the test results. I did, however, have to pay for all the ante-natal care I had and would have had to pay for the birth if I'd stayed (I ended up coming back here because my dad got better). All the staff I saw were perfectly clear about it and made sure I'd completed the Overseas Visitor form with my payment details :). This was in North Somerset and the hospital was in Bristol.

I did this for both of my pregnancies and it worked out perfectly fine, I travelled back to the UK at 36 weeks and I didn't have any issues. I did tell them that I was in Dubai and took all of my antenatal notes with me. In honesty they only really cared about my blood tests. What I did do straight away though, is inform my GP in the UK that I'm pregnant so she opened a file for me. I also travelled back to the UK twice during my first pregnancy and once during my second and made sure that I visited the midwife whilst I was there. The midwife prepared my Green NHS maternity notes book and registered me at the hospital. My notes clearly stated I had my antenatal treatment in Dubai, and I was very open about it all, but nobody asked me to pay for my treatment and I was able to go through the NHS. When I returned to the UK at 36 weeks I resumed antenatal care in the exact same way as everybody else in the UK. However, I have heard that different parts of the UK are different. I'm from the West Midlands, however I know somebody from London who found the whole thing more difficult as they were more skeptical about her going through the NHS, even though they did allow it at the end. I recommend you try and speak to your GP in the UK to see if they can open a file for you. I have another friend who travelled last week to go back to the UK, but she's turning up unregistered at a GP and is going to see how it goes, even if she has to go down the private route.