Ill in the UK: how to get help

Routine care: start with your supervisor

Tell your supervisor you need a GP, a general practitioner. Ask which practice helps workers and who can help with booking, an interpreter and transport. If nobody helps, contact the practice yourself: you do not need to wait for farm permission. GPs help with routine and long-term problems, repeat prescriptions and specialist referrals.

If you become ill or are injured at work, stop unsafe work and ask for a first aider. Tell your supervisor and follow the absence reporting process. Keep the date, incident details, witness contacts and documents, but do not delay treatment for paperwork. Urgent help does not require employer permission or handing over your passport.

When you need urgent help

A&E is the emergency department for serious injuries and dangerous conditions, open 24 hours a day. You can attend yourself without a GP referral or permission from the farm, including when you become ill away from work. Do not drive if you are seriously unwell: ask someone else to take you or call an ambulance if needed.

Give your location, postcode and callback number; have your medicines and allergies ready. Ask for an interpreter. In A&E, a clinician assesses urgency: the most seriously ill patients go first, regardless of arrival time. Arriving by ambulance gives no priority. Tell staff immediately if you get worse while waiting. After assessment you may be discharged with instructions, transferred or admitted.

In hospital with no help from the farm

1. Tell the ward nurse or treating doctor that you are a seasonal worker without support. Explain if you have nowhere to return to, no transport, no help after discharge or cannot collect medicines. Do not wait until discharge day.
2. Ask for an interpreter and the discharge team. If needed, ask for a hospital social worker. Explain your needs: accommodation, mobility, care and medicines. This is a request to assess available help; free accommodation or a taxi is not guaranteed.
3. Contact the operator named as your sponsor on your CoS directly, as well as the farm. Give the hospital, ward, contact details and the help you need. Ask for a named staff member and a written reply. Sponsor welfare duties include arrangements for illness and injury; they do not mean the operator automatically pays every bill.
4. If you have medical insurance, contact its assistance service with your policy number. Check coverage and the documents needed. Do not delay emergency care for insurance authorisation.
5. If the problem remains unresolved, ask for the senior nurse or ward manager. In England, contact PALS, the patient advice service. Elsewhere in the UK, ask for the local patient advice or complaints service. If threats or violence make it unsafe to return, tell staff and ask for safeguarding support.

Before leaving, ask for your discharge summary, medicine instructions, follow-up arrangements, contacts if you get worse and a fit note for work if needed. Check transport arrangements and explain before leaving if the plan is not possible or safe for you. Keep medical documents and messages to the operator; do not post them in a group chat.

Who pays for treatment

In Scotland, Seasonal Worker visa holders can receive NHS primary, hospital and emergency care free on the same terms as Scottish residents. Normal dental and eye care charges may still apply. A GP may ask for your visa, work contract or payslip as evidence of work. NHS prescriptions dispensed at pharmacies in Scotland are free.

Seasonal Workers do not usually pay the immigration health surcharge (IHS): for applications from abroad, it normally applies to visas lasting more than six months. A short visa does not mean all healthcare is covered. Free hospital entitlement is assessed separately.

In England, overseas visitors may be charged 150% of the NHS rate where treatment is chargeable. This is not an automatic bill for every seasonal worker: exemptions and reciprocal agreements may apply. GP registration, an NHS number or tax deductions alone do not establish free hospital entitlement.

In England, treatment a clinician considers urgent or immediately necessary must not be delayed for advance payment or a charging assessment. A bill may still follow. Non-urgent planned care may require payment in advance.

Ask the hospital overseas visitors team for an itemised explanation, an exemption assessment, the documents needed and a written estimate. Contact your insurer if you have one. Do not ignore a bill or promise payment on behalf of the farm. A farm’s arrangement with a GP does not cover hospital care automatically.

For Wales and Northern Ireland, check local rules through the official services below: do not apply English rules across the UK. Prescriptions and dentistry have separate local charging rules.

• England — NHS
• Scotland — NHS inform
• Wales — NHS 111 Wales
• Northern Ireland — nidirect

Registration and appointment questions