Full Timing - Who is doing it or thinking of it

[Deleted member 967]

Originally Posted by 44pat44
Hi All, Thinking of living full time in mobile home. Will tour Europe mostly. How many of you do this? or am I being too head in the clouds.

I am about to go full time from April next year.

There are a number of threads on this subject just type "full timing" into the search.

I have read about problems with banking and getting a house on rent when you give up.

My problems has been with Doctors. We are both on repeat prescriptions and don't realy want to give up using our local practice. We spoke to a doctor who informed us that we had to have a residential address within the practice boundaries or the records would be sent back to the local NHS. If we needed to consult a doctor we could do so anywhere but they would then send for our records. They would then send them to their local NHS when we left their practice area. To me this is going to lead to our records being lost in the system very quickly. We cannot get our records to carry with us either.

The answer seems to be to use a relatives address in the practice area and just keep returning for check ups as we can get repeat prescriptions by post.
Another point is that if you are out of the country for over 3 months you are supposed to return your NHS number, keep a note of it and apply for it again on your return.

Initialy our practice agreed to a six months prescription when we told them we planned to be in Spain for most of the winter but when we tried to get one they provaricated and we have finished up with three months. We will try again with another doctor in the practice as the old hands seem more ameniable than the younger ones.

This may not be a problem for the younger members but as you get older it is something that needs to be considered.

 

[Pioneer]

Hi John,
a few years ago, we sold up, and left these shores for an extended trip around Europe, notified the GP, no problems on return to the area.
Medication can be purchased over the counter in a lot of European countries, and if Hospital treatment is required, take with you the EHC card.
You may have to pay in some countries, but keep your records and claim it back on return.
Must say we had no problems on our trip.

Happy Camping

 

[vera]

GP catchment areas will be scrapped



Just read this thread on the Virgin Home Page might make it easier for some full timers to get their medcines if it ever comes off. -S
Sue

17 September 2009 11:53am
Patients in England will be able to register with any doctor under a move to abolish catchment areas, the Health Secretary has said.

Andy Burnham said people's choice of GP practice was "unnecessarily limited" by current boundaries related to postcode.

The move is likely to net popular GPs extra cash, as money is tied up with how many patients are on a practice list and they will be able to expand to meet demand.

"Within the next 12 months, I want to abolish practice boundaries for patients to allow people to register with the surgery of their choice," Mr Burnham said. "That may mean a practice near work, or in their local neighbourhood from which they are currently excluded by dint of their postcode. But it means that their practice is based on their own needs, not by lines on a map or what is easiest for primary care trusts."

In a speech to the health think tank the King's Fund, Mr Burnham also said the next phase of NHS reform will focus on providing a good "patient experience".

He said: "Today's 'good' NHS can sometimes focus on delivering services where it's best for the provider. A 'great' NHS would deliver services where it's best for the patient - for example, by giving people receiving chemotherapy or renal dialysis control over where they receive their treatment: in a hospital, in their local community or in the comfort of their own home."

He said hospitals where doctors and nurses display a pleasant bedside manner and where wards are clean and attractive will be paid more money. "I want to see payment linked to levels of patient satisfaction through a powerful, new financial framework that rewards people-centred service and care. At the moment, quality is only faintly recognised in the tariff."

He continued: "This is a big culture change for the NHS, which has traditionally been paid by volume. But my judgment is that the service and its staff are ready to make this change."

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