inggris

I have an NHS Medical Card (numbered xxx xxx xxxx) issued 16 years ago before I left the UK. I just wonder whether I will be given a new card with new No. if I get registered with a new GP (for example) when I return or I just keep using the card no matter how old it is. Please kindly share your experience if you have any.

Bermudashorts

I believe you keep your number for life. However don't think many people would even know where their card is or what their number is. I have never used or been asked to produce it anyway.

mikelincs

You do need it for such things as diabetic eye checks, changing GPs and some other things, but generally they are either already printed on the letter if you are sent one. Certainly last time we changed GPs we did need to know our NHS numbers. Yes the number is for life, if the last number you have is one of the old style ones, it will just be changed, your new number would have been allocated when they changed the system some 15 years ago AFAIK.

robin1234

Yes, that's a current style number. (All numbers, no alpha, xxx xxx xxxx.)

I registered with a doctor in June 2015. They don't seem to issue cards any more. They'll simply send you a letter a few days after you register, confirming your registration and also confirming your NHS number. Blissfully simply, compared to USA.

mikelincs

I suspect that depends on the Health Authority, when we moved back and registered we got little credit card type things form the local health authority, but when we moved away we didn't get new ones, the first ones did have the name of the authority on, so it wasn't because we already had them.
Hospital numbers are no longer used in the UK either, they now all use the NHS number, this changed at a time local health areas were merging, where I lived when I last worked there was a merging for many services of 6 hospitals, and some of them used the same hospital number systems, it was therefore decided to just use the NHS numbers as they were unique. This is now the same all over the country after the government decided to have a single NHS database for the UK. They spent millions on the scheme and it never worked, so they left it to local areas to set up their own databases,.

robin1234

Ah OK.

I'm off to a hospital this afternoon that I've never visited before, I was invited by letter to a screening for aortic aneurism, apparently all males are invited for this test at about age 65. I assume I simply have to confirm my identity, I have my driving licence if needed, then presumably they'll access my NHS identity on the system. Amazing difference to America, where it's all dusty Manila folders and constantly having to fill in paper forms in pen and ink. And in the U.S. every doctors office or hospital you visit seems to want to photocopy your insurance cards for the aforementioned Manila folder(s) !!

Bermudashorts

I have changed GP about seven times over my lifetime and never have I been asked for a NHS card or number. I know this because I do not have card and do not know number.

Novocastrian

But I believe you need to identify your previous GP practice. NHS numbers are all online anyway: with your name and date of birth the new practice can get it milliseconds.

Bermudashorts

Well that is easy enough isn't it? To identify the last practice I mean. I did not suggest I moved without ever identifying my previous GP. Just that I have never been asked for my number or card. Gosh I am really surprised that other people have used them! Maybe I will look mine up just in case.

Novocastrian

We recently returned to the UK after 38 years abroad and had long ago lost and forgotten our NHS numbers. We used the internet to find a nearby GP accepting new patients (there were a lot of them) and asked to register at one in person. Names and dates of birth were all it needed for the receptionist to retrieve our NHS numbers or perhaps issue new ones. We didn't even have to show passports (but did need a postal address).

The actual cards arrived by post a few days later.

Based on your experiences, we'll likely never need to show them to anyone.

Tr1boy

Likewise. We've been with three different surgeries in our time here and we've never been asked. I didn't even know such a thing existed. I guess the number is linked somewhere in 'the system'

robin1234

This is true. I certainly didn't know my old NHS number, but I knew my old GP's name. (We left England in 1991.) He used to be the youngest GP in town, now I believe he's the oldest!

BritInParis

Your number stays with you for life. If you have an old style number it will have been converted to a new style number automatically. As others have mentioned your GP surgery can look it up using your name and date of birth. It's not particularly useful to know except you'll be saving a receptionist some legwork when registering for a new GP. It'll also appear on any prescriptions you have.

Novocastrian

Well yes. But not on ones you have in the US, Canada, Germany or France.

BritInParis

Since we're talking about the OP's NHS number when returning to the UK I would've thought that be self-evident