Healthcare & Insurance
When traveling or staying overseas for an extended period it always important to be aware of possible health complications and make some provision for the high financial costs ill health can impose.
In the UK full time foreign students studying for more than six months are entitled to use the National Health System (NHS). Being enrolled as student gives you full access to all the services provided by the NHS for both you and your spouse and children. If you are on a course of less than six months but are being funded substantially by the UK government you should also be eligible for full coverage but should check with the British High Commission before leaving to make sure this is the case.
You do not have to register for the NHS but proof of your eligibility may have to be provided when you use the service. Thus your passport and/or documentation attesting to your enrollment may be needed. You may find it useful to register as an NHS patient with a local GP or clinic upon arrival. The practice may choose to accept or decline your application. An application may be refused if the practice has reasonable grounds for doing so, such as if you are living outside their practice area. A practice would not be able to refuse your application on the grounds of race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition. Note that many universities also have on campus student health services that are part of the NHS.
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Australians and the NHS
Australian citizens and residents, general rights to health care
Please note that even if you have not yet enrolled in a long term course but are in the UK prior to enrollment, or for a course shorter than six months, Australian citizens or residents traveling to the United Kingdom benefit from the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement signed between Australia and the UK. This means Australian citizens may use the British National Health Scheme (NHS) during their stay. The NHS extends to England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
This will cover you for:
- medical treatment and other services normally provided by a doctor to NHS patients
- in-patient treatment including medicines, nursing care and accommodation in a public ward of a NHS hospital
- outpatient treatment in a NHS hospital
- NHS prescription medicines where the doctor treats you as a NHS patient (a small fee is charged)
- ambulance travel to, from, or between NHS hospitals and other facilities operating under the NHS scheme.
There are some important exceptions that the reciprocal agreement does not cover:
- non-subsidised medicines from retail pharmacies
- Medicines prescribed by the doctor treating you as a private patient
- all treatment and appliances provided by NHS dentists and for dental appliances supplied to outpatients at NHS hospitals
For more information you can go to the Australian Medicare site and the UK Department of Health or the
UK High Commission FAQ health page
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