Doctors/Dentist When Living in Van Temporarily

sally47

sally47

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We are moving house beginning of December (wrong time I know ) but our new house won't be ready until March so we have opted to live in the van until then giving a temp address at our daughters .Question is- has anyone been in the same situation or even full timers and What do you do regards Doctors and Dentist , have to add where we are staying in the van is about 25 miles to where we are moving to so can't book in there yet . Any other helpful tips would be appreciated
 
If your address is at your daughter's, even temporary, you can register with her doctor. Dentists are only seeing emergency patients at the moment, so stick with the one you have now
 
We full time but haven’t moved far from our old house address because my wife still works and we need to still be in the locale because of that. We haven’t changed anything and still use our original doctors and dentist.
 
We are staying in our static 45 minutes from old GP which is in England but we are in Scotland awaiting our new house being ready. Our English GP knows our position and with a nod and a wink let us stay in the practice as we were able go give sisters address in the village. If we have an emergency we'll go to nearest A a d E in Scotland.

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How often do you expect to visit a doc or dentist? 25 miles away doesn't seem far to me. Can you not use your new address?
 
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I did something similar in 2007/8 except rather than live in a van, I stayed with friends, relatives, hotels etc for 3 months (lots of different locations in the UK & 2 weeks in Canada snowboarding)

I redirected my mail to my sister's address (a lot more snail mail in those days)

Kept my current Doctors, Dentist, Opticians, etc - didn't need any of them (but repeat prescription are available on-line from most surgeries these days)

So I'm not sure what your concerns are?
 
Wherever you happen to be at the time, on holiday, on a rally wherever and need medical treatment for something you go to the nearest whatever service you need and register as a temporary resident - a couple who are full time narrowboat dwellers whose Vlog we've been following - in September the lady found a lump in a boob and so had to do that from wherever they were moored near Middlewich and since then has received brilliant service from the NHS - operated to remove PDQ because the biopsy showed it was mega urgent - and then they found and moved to a marina because she now has to have a course of chemo at hospital.

When you register with your new doc at your new address - these days they arrange to see both of you and do a medical, before you can be added to their permanent NHS 'list', not just a matter of filling in a form - so best to cross examine the new neighbours and find out the best local GP surgery to register with before you actually turn up there! (not that you can just turn up unannounced at most GP surgeries anyway at the moment and who knows by next spring)
 
I was still registered for the doctor and dentist at my parents home address for 15-20 years after I left home, I only updated after they moved out.

I know on one form I had to fill in where it asked for the name of my doctor, I was told he had retired 21 years previously!

I'd not bother registering with a temporary address.
Simply move everything from old to new when it suits you.

For a £7 fee The Post Office will redirect all the mail from your address to an address of your choosing for 6 months.
 
We full timed from 2015. Registered with a DR near our daughters as we could use this as a base for the yearly check ups and other practice updates, Flu jab and the like over the following five years. Obviously when on mainland Europe the local medical system was to hand. In UK wherever you are you have access (through an appointment with a GP) By just contacting a GP practice and introducing yourself as in the area for long visit you will be temporary registered with the GP. In fact via the computer they have access to your records so any issue is dealt with and helped. The NHS do not want you to attend A and E for GP related issues. In fact through NHS on call you can be booked to see a GP at a hospital. So there is no great issue, especially for three months.

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TheAleMan said:
We full time but haven’t moved far from our old house address because my wife still works and we need to still be in the locale because of that. We haven’t changed anything and still use our original doctors and dentist.
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What about you address in their system, what do you tell time it is now ? Cheers
 
15isto2 said:
Probably still on hold trying to get through
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🤣🤣 ok was asking for myself to be fare as trying to find out if i can stsy with my doctors why moving about 👍

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You do need an address where the occasional bit of mail can be sent, you don’t want to miss out on screening appointments for bowel, breast or cervical cancer screening, or AAA screening. That’s why most full timers use a family members address. That’s also handy as you can make routine appointments there. For anything else you can make an appointment as a temporary resident anywhere in the country, as anyone who was on holiday would, or Uni students do.

I am a retired GP so we do know how people adapt the system to their needs. Obviously it is not necessarily as easy as it was if you’re on a lot of regular medication or need regular blood tests.
 

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