24
N.H.S. Note 6.
(Revised)
Medical Treatment when Away from Home Arrangements for Temporary Residents.
Everyone is entitled to free medical treatment under the National Health Service at all times. Absence from home while on holiday, for example, is no bar; cases like this are covered by the arrangements for temporary residents, which are briefly summarised below.
-
Any one (including visitors from abroad) who is living temporarily for not more than three months in any district and who is not on a doctor's list in that district, or anyone moving from place to place, such as a commercial traveller or theatrical artist, can apply to any local doctor in the Service for treatment as a temporary resident. People recuperating in convalescent homes.
will also be classed as temporary residents.
Children a boarding schools can be placed on the school doctor's list if he is in the Service, and they will then be treated as "temporary residents" when at home for the holidays. This will usually be the most convenient arrangement as, throughout the year, the child spends the greater part of the time at school. Children attending day schools are, of course, on their home doctor's list.
Again, if undergraduates are spending the greater part of their time away from home they can register with a.doctor in the Service in the University town, and when at home be treated as temporary residents.
The procedure to obtain treatment as a temporary resident is quite simple. All that is necessary is to sign a form stating there is no intention of staying in the district for more than three months, and giving the applicant's identity number. Aliens on short visits to this country and therefore without identity numbers, give instead their home address. The doctor then signs the same form accepting the patient and sends it to his Executive Council. Anyone is entitled to free treatment whether holding a medical card (1.e. being on a doctor's list elsewhere) or not.
A person who is not stopping in the district for more than twenty-four hours will be treated as an emergency patient. In this case the only difference is that an emergency form is used instead of a temporary resident's form.
A temporary resident should not register in advance with a doctor. Application should only be made us and when medical attention is actually needed.
The fees doctors will be paid for patients in these special categories are now being worked out in detail. Each Executive Council will have a local fund from which the payments will be made.
The fee paid to the doctor does not depend on the number of times he sees the patient, but is a fixed sum.
It is estimated that about 350,000 patients a year in England and Wales will receive medical treatment as temporary residents.
Ministry of Health,
Whitehall, S.W.1.
September, 1948.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.