London Medical - Knightsbridge Doctors

[lost_at_sea 995]

Did they not take any blood (or did I miss that bit?!)

Yep, took blood: "She then had me lay back down again, did blood pressure and then took a blood sample."

I've got a nice little bruise in the crook of my arm from it today. And my left arm is aching from my tetanus still. The things we do...

[LORIEandPHIL 123]

Have booked our medicals for the 2nd of July. Sending off DS-2001 today. hoping for a late July interview, even earlier would be good.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Have booked our medicals for the 2nd of July. Sending off DS-2001 today. hoping for a late July interview, even earlier would be good.

Ooo.. you'll be very lucky to scrape in for a July interview, but here's hoping!

[ilovemypants 6]

ok sorry it's taken a few days for me to do this review but if I'm honest quite frankly it's taken till now to get over the whole expirience, and I don't want to put off people as the medical itself was fine for me, but for my kids was horrendous
I arrived on time after a hot sticky travel on the tubes, trying to control 3 young ones and make sure I didnt lose them in the hustle and bustle of bond street!

We checked in they took passports, police cert, questionaires and photos (i took uk passport sized) then went to wait in the main waiting room met some others going through the same thing, had a nice chat helped me calm down a little!
After about 10 minutes or so I was called through by the jolly xray man, he showed my three little ones into another waiting room to wait for me while I had it done which had some books and toys for them then I followed him into the xray room next door went behind the curtain took off my top half and put gown on, he reminded me to remove my necklace as I had forgotten. I then do the obligatory chicken pose while he takes the xray then he brings it up on the comp and inquires what the two metal studs are showing up on my pic :/ Yup..... I had forgotten to take out personal piercings!! he laughed and said he would pretend he didn't see them lol. I go back to the waiting room in my gown (kids laugh at me) wait 5 minutes andhe comes back in asks to take a second xray as he couldnt quite see the bottom of my lungs clearly and he would rather do another xray now then have it cause me trouble later so we quickly do the chicken pose again and job done.
Wait back with kids for 5 or 10 minutes then a lady comes in introduces herself (which i forgot also instantly!) we go to her room and fill in all the paperwork for me and kids, all simple stuff takes a few minutes. Then on to my medical, she checks eyes, ears, blood pressure which was just acceptable, must of been the stressful journey! then on to the dreaded naked bits, checks breasts stomach pulse in all the right places reflexes and..... yup downstairs too. It was quick and over with in minutes tho so really wasn't as bad as I had thought, had been having sleepless nights about it and everything! Swiftly takes some blood then I was done.
All the way through I was nervous as hell but as the kids we in the room with me I was trying to sound happy and not scared, was glad it was over though and happy the doctor was nice.

On to my childrens medicals......

she asks who wants to go first, they all decline.....great start! then the next bit is all a bit of a blur to me, All I remember is all of a sudden I have my two youngest girls screaming and sobbing and my boy just flat out refusing, They had all discovered they had to get naked infront of a strange woman. I try to console them and make them see its nothing to worry about but they are having none of it and it starts to esculate so the doctor suggests 2 wait back in the room with toys and we try one at a time. So I take my elder two back to the toy room and come back to try to reason with a 4 year old that its all going to be ok, she skips the eye test as she doesnt know all her letters yet and checks eyes with torch thingy after weighing and checking her height, that all goes kinda smoothly although willow is looking petrified. She then chcks her heart and lungs while she is crying at this point. Then.. on to the worst bit, I have to physically pin my daughter down to get her clothes off screaming and crying as the doctor wants to check her genitals too. I never thought in a million years they would put kids through that and I think had I have known before hand I could have at least prepared them and myself! this whole thing is starting to take time as it was quite a struggle to get it done and then i remember I have to do this 2 more times over ... with older children
I take willow back to toy room and bring megan (7) back to doctors office, the same thing all unfolds, we get through the eyes, ears, heart and lungs bit without her freaking out but then comes the genital check and as she is older pinning her down and removing clothing was a lot more difficult, by this point I just want to burst into tears walk out and forget the whole thing, the guilt is ripping through me and it's all becoming too much but I know if it's not done they will not pass medicals At the end of all that, the doctor informs me that megan actually has a heart murmur, totally shocked me I had no idea. So her medical won't be ok'd until further tests are done, we have an appointment with our doctor on monday morning and hopefully they will be ok and can just be faxed/emailed to knightsbridge docs and then her medical will be passed too without too much of a delay.
ONE MORE KID TO GO......
I go fetch Logan (8) he comesin andis ok to start with, lets doc check eyes, ears weight, height, listen to chest.... then it all goes wrong. He refuses, runs around room shouting he hates me and isnt going to do it, we try reasoning with him, it does nothing
the doctor makes it clear if he doesnt do it he cant go to america, so then he just shouts at me he doesnt want to go and is going to live with his dad and he hates me after quite some time i finally manage to get his clothes off and pin him down holding his arms and legs while the doctor checks him down below. The actually checking bit takes seconds, but the sheer guilt I am now feeling while he gets dressed and runs off out of sight round the corner sobbing telling me he isnt going to america now and he hates me constantly is just heart breaking I have found the last few days really tough and actually hate myself for putting them through that
After all that we wait in the room with toys again for the immunization nurse, she comes for us after 5 mins waiting and the girls stick to my side like glue and come with me to her room, but my eldest boy refuses to even talk to me still just hides under the blind staring out of the window, so we go to the nurses room and she checks our vaccinations, im up to date but kids need hep B, she offers to do them at a cost of course or says I can get my doctor to do them since I am applying for the K1. After the previous 2 hours I tell her I think my kids have been put through enough and I will get my doctor to start the course of 3 injections each they each require. She is a lovely girl and chats to the girls and gives them some flavoured stick things they use to check inside your mouth, then she comes into the toy room with me and tries to talk my boy round but it doesnt work so off she goes to do the paperwork i need. We wat a short while then go collect everything we need, doctors letters and police certs passports and such... then to add insult to injury after violating and traumatising my kids they ask for the fee.... £565 is paid whilst I am doing all this my boy has run out of the building and hiding in the entrance, this whole thing obviously really affected him

I pondered on whether or not to post about our horrific expirience, I really don't mean to put anyone off, for adults it really is MUCH less painful then I thought it would be, and I am sure had I been able to prepare my kids more maybe it wouldnt have been such a shock for them to discover what they had to go through but I honestly never thought the doctor would want to check them down there too. So, I guess I am writing this to warn other parents of the pitfalls and stress that could be avoided, one thing I would suggest is only take one child in at a time from the start, never have more then one so that things don't esculate between them all.
Really hope other parents can draw something useful out of knowing all this, GOOD LUCK EVERYONE <3

[lost_at_sea 995]

I pondered on whether or not to post about our horrific expirience, I really don't mean to put anyone off, for adults it really is MUCH less painful then I thought it would be, and I am sure had I been able to prepare my kids more maybe it wouldnt have been such a shock for them to discover what they had to go through but I honestly never thought the doctor would want to check them down there too. So, I guess I am writing this to warn other parents of the pitfalls and stress that could be avoided, one thing I would suggest is only take one child in at a time from the start, never have more then one so that things don't esculate between them all.

Really hope other parents can draw something useful out of knowing all this, GOOD LUCK EVERYONE <3

You really shouldn't feel guilty. You had no choice, and neither did your kids or the Doctor. If you want anyone to feel guilty or to blame, let it be the US immigration system and their policies that have an insistence on such an invasive medical that is not tailored to applicants nor to the risk-factor of the country doing the exam. The whole medical process is veiled in racism, imho, as well as just being plain over the top (especially when it's in the UK - I mean, seriously? We're the ones with the socialised healthcare, buddy!). You can tell exactly what sort of people America is trying to keep out.

I'm sorry this was hard, really, don't feel bad. Your eldest will be okay, and at least he's old enough for you to chat to about the whole thing once he's calmed down a little. When's he's a bit bigger and realises the opportunity you've given him by allowing him later to choose when he's an adult whether he'd like to live in the UK or the US, he'll be appreciative, I'm sure.

It's good you posted this, though - others will be taking their kids and it's useful for them to know what it can be like and how they might want to handle it!

p.s. I hope your daughter's apparent heart murmur turns out to be nothing, and just an anomaly from the stress of the day. Best of luck.

Edited June 22, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[ilovemypants 6]

your right sea, what angers me, is you can go on a 90 day holiday spreading any diseases you might have quite happily not having to go through any of this, its all just so wrong. It's just as easy to go on holiday and pass stuff on as it is if your going to live there, I can't make sense of it
Also, thank you so much for your kind words <3

[lost_at_sea 995]

your right sea, what angers me, is you can go on a 90 day holiday spreading any diseases you might have quite happily not having to go through any of this, its all just so wrong. It's just as easy to go on holiday and pass stuff on as it is if your going to live there, I can't make sense of it

Also, thank you so much for your kind words <3

I know! I made the exact same point to my husband on one of my many rants about this since this process began about how ridiculous and unnecessary most aspects of the medical are! Makes me very mad.

Best of luck. Hard part is over now! Onwards and upwards.

[Laura. 90]

Hello all,

Does anyone know what the current waiting times are when booking a medical? I'm still waiting on my Police Certificate to arrive then I should be good to go for the medical, but I'm just wondering when to call. I'm hoping to have the medical in the first week of July (Certificate arrival allowing), but I don't want to leave it too late to call.

Thanks

[lost_at_sea 995]

Hello all,

Does anyone know what the current waiting times are when booking a medical? I'm still waiting on my Police Certificate to arrive then I should be good to go for the medical, but I'm just wondering when to call. I'm hoping to have the medical in the first week of July (Certificate arrival allowing), but I don't want to leave it too late to call.

Thanks

I got my medical with less than a week's notice (called Friday, went Thursday), but I'd give it 2 weeks to be safe. It's partially going to depend on your schedule and how flexible you are, I suppose (if you can go any time, on short notice, then that will help!). When did you send off for your certificate? I assume you just did normal processing, not the expensive premium one.

Edited June 22, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Laura. 90]

I got my medical with less than a week's notice (called Friday, went Thursday), but I'd give it 2 weeks to be safe. It's partially going to depend on your schedule and how flexible you are, I suppose (if you can go any time, on short notice, then that will help!). When did you send off for your certificate? I assume you just did normal processing, not the expensive premium one.

I sent off for my certificate just over a week ago (normal processing), got the email from them on Monday morning. Is that when they start the 10 day count or should I wait for another email to say that?

We were approved much quicker than I expected, otherwise I would have had this done weeks ago!

[lost_at_sea 995]

I sent off for my certificate just over a week ago (normal processing), got the email from them on Monday morning. Is that when they start the 10 day count or should I wait for another email to say that?

We were approved much quicker than I expected, otherwise I would have had this done weeks ago!

10 days from that email, but mine came after a week. So, you can probably phone and book your medical towards the end of this week and find your police cert turns up at the start of the next week (if not sooner).

Well, nice to be surprised by an earlier approval.

[Laura. 90]

10 days from that email, but mine came after a week. So, you can probably phone and book your medical towards the end of this week and find your police cert turns up at the start of the next week (if not sooner).

Well, nice to be surprised by an earlier approval.

Hmm okay. I might call up Thursday or Friday then. Thanks!

And yeah I'm certainly not complaining! It was a big surprise, especially with all the problems/transfers at Vermont lately. I did however lose a bet with my fiance over it...

[QueenOfBlades 224]

How recent does the letter from the GP have to be re: mental health? I'm not sure when my medical will be (we got NOA2 on June 19th) and my fiance is coming up July 23rd hopefully and I want him to be with me. It's difficult getting time off work so I was looking at getting the vaccination records/letter from the GP re: depression on week beginning July 8th. Will this be a problem? How recent does it have to be? Will a month or so matter?

[PearlyLemons 13]

Queen of Blades, I would imagine a month to be fine. I too have a history of depression/anxiety. My GP's letter will be around 15 days old when I take to to Knightsbridge(my medical is on the 5th July). You should be fine.

[Deanna & Karl 1]

Hello all,

Does anyone know what the current waiting times are when booking a medical? I'm still waiting on my Police Certificate to arrive then I should be good to go for the medical, but I'm just wondering when to call. I'm hoping to have the medical in the first week of July (Certificate arrival allowing), but I don't want to leave it too late to call.

Thanks

I booked my medical Thursday, and the soonest available appointment was Wednesday 3rd of July. I would say your safe to book now and have plenty of time for the Police certificate to arrive.

Karl