Healthcare in England

The British national health service is a fine institution but does have problems.
British nationals should have no real problems with emergency health care or run of the mill stuff.
Waiting lists for operations can be a problem.

Foreign nationals aren't supposed to use the free services unless they pay tax/national insurance but I've never seen anyone check the entitlement of anyone.
That's 5 years out of date and a financial crisis later so that may have changed.
Private hospitals and medical insurance guarantee you excellent service at a price.
Dentists are hard work to find. NHS is available but it's not easy to get on a dentist's list so most go private.
Foreign nationals may have trouble getting on a doctor's list if they don't have a national insurance number.
That number is issued to all legal employees of all businesses.

Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, meaning England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have their own systems of publicly funded healthcare. A variety of differences exist between these systems, as a result of each region having different policies and priorities.

Private medical insurance (PMI) allows you to avoid NHS waiting lists and receive fast-track consultations and private treatment for short-term, curable medical problems. You are treated privately in an NHS hospital or in a private hospital. PMI doesn't cover every medical eventuality, however, so it's important to check your policy details.

Hi,

In order to help expats and soon-to-be expats, we would like to invite you to share your experience on this topic, with updated info on the healthcare system.

Thank you in advance,

Julie
Expat.com Team

UK is really a very boring,highly unfriendly society I ever came across.
Working environment is also very bad.
Locals don't have any respect for expats
NHS is good.
But must expect the bad attitude from locals.

For every Non EU tourist and expatriate the health insurance is a must. Although healthcare in UK is funded by government. I think Healthcare facilities are excellent however you may face 3-4 hours dalays in emergency appointments. Other than that it is simply excellent.

I have been living in UK for 21 years and I have been extensively using the NHS (National Health Service). Unfortunately the NHS is very poor, Doctors are not well trained, serious mistakes that can put your life in danger  and it occurs daily. I had many friends that died by serious cases of medical negligence, there is no compassion and Doctors do not have any ethics as it should be required. I have a case of medical negligence in progress for a misdiagnosed case. I suggest you to fly back to your country if you need a proper health service and particularly  if you are in front of serious health problems, the private insurance will not help as you are dealing with an useless health system.

telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/6092658/Cruel-and-neglectful-care-of-one-million-NHS-patients-exposed.html

Private insurance will leave you having to pay not only for the insurance but for doctors' fees, etc. It will avoid the waiting times that may be involved with the NHS. However, I'm told that if anything goes wrong in surgery in a private hospital you face being transferred to an NHS hospital, which will be better able to deal with the emergency--at a time when being bounced from one hospital to another is the last thing you need.

My experience in the U.S. is that mistakes are made there too--and misdiagnoses and negligence.

It much simpler than you would expect. I spent a whole month trying to find out how it works, until I was told to register at the nearest GP practice. After I told the receptionist I was Dutch, I wasn't even asked for the passport I brought.
As for quality, if you don't like waiting for a physio therapists for six weeks, or you'd prefer an ortho-manual therapist, you might want to go private. I had a few urgencies over the past nine years and NHS is very good and efficient. I'd say the Dutch system is better, but I'd probably pay at least £100 per month for the care I'm receiving now. As for extras, NHS is not the place to be.
My only really bad experience: When my son was born, he was kept in the hospital for a week because of suspected infection. They proposed to do a lumbal puncture to obtain cerebrospinal fluid. They tried and failed. Then they tried twice again and failed again. It turned out this was for training purposes,  since they were using medical students. My son was only 3-4 days old and they practically tried to bend his back on a table to insert the needle in between his lower vertebrates. Just horrible. I don't know if this might happen in other countries as well. My son is 4 now and very fine by the way.