Before you start

Immigration Health Surcharge paid with your visa application — Irish and British citizens are covered by residence
An address within a GP practice's catchment area
An HSCR-1 registration form if you are arriving from outside the UK
A UK phone number for appointment systems

Step-by-step

1
Register with a GP practice in week one
Find practices covering your postcode and register in person. Coming from outside the UK you complete an HSCR-1; moving from elsewhere in the UK it is an HS200. Do it while you are well — registration is administrative and takes days, but getting an appointment as a new patient during a bad week is not.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Wait for your medical card and Health and Care number
After registration you are issued a medical card carrying your Health and Care number, the unique identifier used across HSC. It is not an NHS number, and it can take up to eight weeks to arrive. Keep it — hospital referrals, pharmacies and out-of-hours services all ask for it.
OnlineWho: You
3
Do not go looking for NHS 111
It does not operate in Northern Ireland. In hours, ring your GP. Out of hours, ring your GP practice's number and you are routed to the out-of-hours service. If you are considering an emergency department for something that is not life-threatening, use your trust's Phone First line: a call handler takes your details and a clinician rings back to direct you to the right service, which is often not the ED.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Stop budgeting for prescriptions
Northern Ireland abolished prescription charges in 2010, as Wales did in 2007 and Scotland in 2011. England is the only UK nation that still charges per item. There is nothing to claim and no prepayment certificate to buy — the medicine is free at the counter.
In personWho: You
5
Learn which hospital does what
The Royal Victoria Hospital on the Grosvenor Road holds the regional emergency department, the major trauma centre and the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children; the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald serves the east; the Mater on the Crumlin Road and Belfast City Hospital handle a large share of planned and specialist work, with the regional cancer centre at the City. Knowing this saves a bad journey across a city with no metro.
OnlineWho: You
6
Plan realistically for waiting times, and decide early about dentistry
Northern Ireland's elective waiting lists are the longest in the UK, and a routine outpatient referral can be a multi-year wait for some specialties. HSC dental access is also under real strain. If you have a known condition or need regular dental care, find out where you stand in your first month rather than your first crisis — and understand that private treatment is the realistic fallback and is not covered by the surcharge you paid.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

HSCR-1 form if registering from outside the UK, or HS200 from within it
Proof of a Belfast address
Passport and eVisa share code
Vaccination and medical records from your home country, ideally translated
A list of your current medications by generic rather than brand name

Things most newcomers don’t know

It is HSC, not the NHS, and the difference is not cosmetic.

Northern Ireland integrated health and social care into single trusts in 1973 and never adopted the NHS England structure. You get a Health and Care number rather than an NHS number, your records do not automatically follow you from an English GP, and NHS apps and services built for England frequently do not work here at all.

Source: HSC Northern Ireland — access to health and social care

There is no NHS 111 here — the equivalent is Phone First, and it is trust-by-trust.

Every UK-wide guide tells you to ring 111 for urgent non-emergency help. That number does not serve Northern Ireland. The route is your GP, your GP's out-of-hours service, or your trust's Phone First line if you are thinking about attending an emergency department. Look up your trust's number and save it before you need it.

Source: nidirect — urgent and emergency care services

Prescriptions are free, which quietly removes a recurring English cost.

Northern Ireland abolished the charge in 2010. For anyone on long-term medication that is a real annual saving against England, and it never appears in UK-wide relocation advice because the advice is written from England.

Source: nidirect — help with health costs

The waiting lists are the thing to research before you accept a job here.

Northern Ireland's elective waiting times are the longest of the four UK nations and have been for years. It does not affect emergency care, and general practice works much as it does elsewhere — but if you or a family member need planned specialist treatment, this is the single most consequential difference between living in Belfast and living in Leeds, and it is not something a relocation package fixes.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Ringing 111 in an urgent situation and getting nothing, because it does not exist here.
Waiting until you are ill to register with a GP.
Assuming your English NHS records and NHS App follow you into HSC.
Going to Belfast City Hospital for an emergency — the regional emergency department is at the Royal Victoria.
Assuming England's waiting-time performance describes Northern Ireland's.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.