Medicals Question. Sender: mvt550

Yes it is open to abuse. But don't forget that people apply for visas to Australia from all over the world. The UK is one of the few countries where your medical records follow you round as you move from one general practice to another.

So for many other applicants from other countries this is totally irrelevent - they wouldn't have the option to present their entire medical record anyway!

I'm sure there are many people who do lie on their medical forms but I certainly don't recommend it. People do it from time to time to me when I'm conducting medicals (for other reasons - I'm not-never have been a panel doctor so haven't done immigration meds for Australia). They often get found out - and it's much worse than if they had just told the truth. It's our job and we're generally not stupid. We are more than likely to pick up significant problems and a few strategic questions often find someone out if we're suspicious. And if it is something that you can lie about and get away with it's unlikely to be a visa refusal problem anyway - so why bother lying about it in the first place??

As for records following you to Australia - no they won't.

Here is a reply I posted on another forum about this issue:

The UK is unusual in that you can only register with one particular practice at any given point in time and your notes therefore follow you if you move between GPs within the UK.

Here in Australia, you do not have to "register" with a particular practice - you are in theory free to see a doctor at one practice one day and then see a doctor at another practice the next. In practice most people do only use one practice of course. The point is that in Australia your medical notes belong to each individual practice (or sometimes an individual doctor) so they DO NOT follow you round if you move GPs.

As the health systems are not linked in any shape or form, your ORIGINAL UK notes WILL NOT follow you to Australia anyway, whether or not your GP in Perth requests them. The only option is for you to obtain a copy of your records. If you wish to do this, I strongly advise you to do it BEFORE you leave the UK - it is much more tricky (issues of consent and confidentiality) and likely to be more expensive if you try and do it from Perth! In theory your GP in Perth could request copies of your notes or a medical summary from your last GP in the UK but this will be more of a hbuttle for everyone and you will still have to pay your last UK GP for this.

Your GP is enbreastled to charge for this service as it is not covered by the NHS - how much they will charge depends on your GP and the size of your notes. Some GPs do not charge but you are lucky if this is the case and people certainly shouldn't expect this.

By the way you should inform your UK GP that you are emigrating permanently and your records will then be sent back to the central authority. Trying to get copies then is pretty much impossible.

Hope that is helpful

Madhu

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