VisaMedicals pre-Interview Medical Exam in London

[Phil and Serena 0]

K-1 visa embassy interview set for August 27 in London.  VisaMedicals examiner gave us a letter to send to GPs asking for medical summary, and the GPs have had the requests for over a month and have done NOTHING with them, so we're concerned they might not get the summaries to VisaMedicals soon enough for VM to complete their report in time for the Interview. Any ideas on how we can speed up the GPs???

[yoda one for me 322]

Did you have the medical without taking your summary with you on the day?

 

Have you rung your surgery to give them a kick up the bum to get this done? Have you been in person to hassle them? It's really down to you to keep being a squeaky wheel here. You have to make it clear that this is not only extremely important they are holding things up, but that you have a right to access a copy of your information.

 

Do they not have an online portal you can access to get your summary care record yourself? The summary care record is a standard NHS format, you should be able to get this really easy - a lot easier than your full medical records! 

[Phil and Serena 0]

1 hour ago, yoda one for me said:

Did you have the medical without taking your summary with you on the day?

 

Have you rung your surgery to give them a kick up the bum to get this done? Have you been in person to hassle them? It's really down to you to keep being a squeaky wheel here. You have to make it clear that this is not only extremely important they are holding things up, but that you have a right to access a copy of your information.

 

Do they not have an online portal you can access to get your summary care record yourself? The summary care record is a standard NHS format, you should be able to get this really easy - a lot easier than your full medical records! 

I'm the American half of this engaged couple, so I'm well versed in how the NHS works and how GPs conduct their practice in the UK, so please forgive my ignorance in asking this question, but...  Can a patient just walk into the GP's office and request the "Summary Care Record?"   Is it like a one page form or something that they can easily print/generate and then just hand it to the patient over the counter?   Is that how it works?

3 hours ago, Phil and Serena said:

K-1 visa embassy interview set for August 27 in London.  VisaMedicals examiner gave us a letter to send to GPs asking for medical summary, and the GPs have had the requests for over a month and have done NOTHING with them, so we're concerned they might not get the summaries to VisaMedicals soon enough for VM to complete their report in time for the Interview. Any ideas on how we can speed up the GPs???

I'm the American half of this engaged couple, so I'm well versed in how the NHS works and how GPs conduct their practice in the UK, so please forgive my ignorance in asking this question, but...  Can a patient just walk into the GP's office and request the "Summary Care Record?"   Is it like a one page form or something that they can easily print/generate and then just hand it to the patient over the counter?   Is that how it works?

[yoda one for me 322]

3 hours ago, Phil and Serena said:

Can a patient just walk into the GP's office and request the "Summary Care Record?"   Is it like a one page form or something that they can easily print/generate and then just hand it to the patient over the counter?   Is that how it works?

Pretty much, yeah.

 

Some surgeries do it as a self service thing - they have to activate your account but you can log onto their portal and access it yourself as a patient. Others you can have reception print it out from their system for you (obv you have to go in with ID and such for data protection reasons). 

 

I think mine was like a page with a few headers with nothing underneath them and a small dated record of my last visit. If your partner has some more recent history such as current medications or chronic conditions they'll be listed in there too. It is literally one to a few sheets of paper - it's not the full medical records, it's exactly what it sounds like: a summary. 

 

An NHS practice that refuses to give a copy of this is acting inappropriately and warrants complaints to the practice manager and local health authority, but I feel like most people just end up having to educate practice reception staff on what they want (as some assume it's FULL records and get all in a tizzy about it) rather than people being actually obstructive.

 

Some more information on summary care records is here on the NHS website: 

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/summary-care-records-scr

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/your-health-records/

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/how-to-access-your-health-records/ (this one says you can't get your summary online, so it may have changed, but ultimately the key is to talk to the practice your partner is registered at)

 

It may be helpful to take some of these webpages printed out to reiterate exactly what is needed. 

 

Best of luck! The actual record itself is going to feel very anticlimactic for all the faff it is to get it in your case 😅