New Patients

If you are ill while away from home or if you are not registered with a doctor but need to see one you can receive emergency treatment from the local GP practice for 14 days. After 14 days you will need to register as a temporary or permanent patient.

You can be registered as a temporary patient for up to three weeks. This will allow you to be on the local practice list and still remain a patient of your permanent GP. After three weeks you will have to re-register as a temporary patient or permanently register with that practice.

To register as a temporary patient simply contact the local practice you wish to use. Practices do not have to accept you as a temporary patient although they do have an obligation to offer emergency treatment. You cannot register as a temporary patient at a practice in the town or area where you are already registered.

Those who visit the UK from overseas must pay for their care when they are in England.

In 2015 changes were made to how the NHS charges overseas visitors for healthcare so the NHS does not lose out on income for the services these patients have received.

Sometimes when filling in online forms or speaking with our staff, you may be asked for your NHS number.

This online tool will help you find your number if you do not know it.

These fact sheets have been written to explain the role of UK health services, the National Health Service (NHS), to newly-arrived individuals seeking asylum. They cover issues such as the role of GPs, their function as gatekeepers to the health services, how to register and how to access emergency services.

Special care has been taken to ensure that information is given in clear language, and the content and style has been tested with user groups.

Open the leaflets in one of the following languages: