You must register with a local National Health Service (NHS) doctor’s surgery as soon as you arrive in the UK. Teachers at your school may be able to recommend one near your school.
If not, try searching the National Health Service's website for local health services in England, the Health in Wales website for Wales, the Health and Social Care website for Northern Ireland and the NHS 24 website for Scotland.
You will have to give the doctor's surgery your National Insurance (NI) number when you register. For more information see the information we provide on National Insurance on the Money Matters page.
You must register with a doctor as soon as you arrive. It will be much more difficult to do this when you are already ill!
Some doctor’s surgeries already have a high number of registered patients and may not accept new patients.
Visiting the doctor is free of charge, but you will have to pay for the following: -
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prescriptions (£7.40 per item England only) |
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dental treatment |
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eye care/optician (apart from Scotland) |
You are entitled to treatment under the National Health Service (NHS) on the same basis as UK residents.
Whilst you are earning a salary in the UK, you can get a European Health Insurance Card which will entitle you to free emergency treatment when you return home or when you visit another EU country in the holidays during the period of your appointment.
We strongly recommend you take out private insurance before leaving your home country as certain costs such as repatriation are not covered by the NHS.
You are allowed free emergency treatment but some doctors may not offer other medical services free of charge. We strongly recommend you take out private insurance before leaving your home country, as private treatment in the UK is very expensive.
For further information on health care in the UK, please visit Monetos website.
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