Wondering Hubby

[HubbyRyan]

Hello. Husband of a diabetic wife here, in USA. Not diabetic myself. We are due to retire soon. Plan is to stay in UK on a visitor visa. We know we do not qualify for ILR. We are aware of visa rules. All of the previous is included only for background information and no answers are needed on the above.

Wife is concerned about the availability of insulin in UK. She is a type 1 diabetic. She uses two types of insulin:
Lantus 100 units/mL 3mL prefilled pen, and
Humalog KwikPen. Same size.
Each comes shipped 5 pens per box. We do not believe insulin is allowed to be shipped to the UK, or survive.
Can anyone here tell us the following:
We think we do not qualify for NHS. Is this true?
Will a UK pharmacist honor a US-written prescription?
Will a UK pharmacist write a prescription for a non-UK person?
How much does Lantus insulin cost in the UK (paid out-of-pocket without insurance)?
How much does Humalog insulin cost in the UK (paid out-of-pocket without insurance)?

Cheers in advance for your answers.

 

[Drummer]

You might be able to find out that information from the same place as you request your visas.
I suspect that you will need a letter from your US prescriber with details of the medication required.
My daughter married an American and when they moved back here they had to register with a GP surgery and he had to pay a fee to use the NHS - though he was coming to stay so it might not be exactly the same.

 

[trophywench]

Can't answer any of the questions about cost, how to access the healthcare and prescriptions etc - but can tell you that both Lantus and Humalog are quite commonly used in the UK too, so that's OK.

 

[Inka]

How long are you planning to stay? If it’s only 3 months for example, you could just bring your insulin as U.K. travellers to other countries do. If that was the case, I recommend swapping to reusable pens and cartridges.

No, you wouldn’t qualify for NHS treatment (except emergency treatment eg if you broke a leg).

If you needed a prescription here, you’d have to get a private prescription from a GP which you’d then take to a pharmacy here to get fulfilled. You’d have to pay for the items on the prescription. Again, another reason why reusable pens might be better. I’m not sure what the cost to you would be but insulin is a tiny fraction of the price in the US.

This thread is a few years old but it gives you an idea of cost. Be aware that you’d probably be paying more than the price the NHS pays as yours would be an individual private prescription:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/insulin-costs.65713/

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