Before you start

Immigration Health Surcharge paid with your visa application
An address within a GP practice's catchment area
Passport and eVisa share code, though a practice should not require them to register
A UK phone number for appointment and prescription systems

Step-by-step

1
Register with a GP practice in week one
Find practices covering your postcode on the NHS website and register with one. Practices should not demand proof of immigration status, though most ask for proof of address. Practices around Hyde Park, Headingley and Woodhouse take a very large student intake each September — register before it, not during it.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Buy a prescription prepayment certificate if you take anything regularly
England charges per item dispensed. A prepayment certificate covers unlimited NHS prescriptions for three or twelve months at a fixed price, can be paid by Direct Debit instalments, and breaks even at about two items a month. Nobody at the pharmacy counter will offer it.
OnlineWho: You
3
Use the NHS App from the start
Repeat prescriptions, appointment booking, test results and your GP record all sit in it, and it is the same app nationally. NHS England is run from Quarry Hill in Leeds and local practices tend to be early adopters of the digital services, so more is available here through the app than in many places.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Learn the 111 route before you need it
NHS 111 handles urgent problems that are not emergencies, especially out of hours, and directs you to a pharmacy, an urgent treatment centre or A&E. Turning up at A&E with something 111 would have resolved means a long wait as the lowest priority.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Find a dentist taking NHS patients early
NHS dental access is under real strain nationally and West Yorkshire is no exception. Start looking in your first month rather than when something hurts, and understand that private treatment is the realistic fallback and is not covered by the surcharge you paid.
In personWho: You
6
Check whether you are exempt from prescription charges anyway
England exempts under-16s, over-60s, pregnant women and people with certain listed conditions, among others. The categories are broader than most people assume and worth reading before buying a certificate.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Proof of a Leeds address, for GP registration
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

England charges for prescriptions and the rest of the UK does not.

Scotland abolished the charge in 2011, and Wales and Northern Ireland did the same. England still levies a per-item fee. If you take regular medication that is a real annual cost that does not exist across the border, and it never appears in UK-wide relocation advice.

Source: NHS England

The prepayment certificate is the most useful thing nobody tells you.

It covers unlimited NHS prescriptions for a flat three- or twelve-month fee, breaks even at roughly two items a month, and can be paid by instalments. People on long-term medication pay per item for years without discovering it exists.

Source: NHS Business Services Authority

You have paid for the NHS already, but you still have to register.

The surcharge is charged per year of leave and paid up front with the visa. It entitles you to care — and then nothing happens. Until you register with a GP your only route into the system is A&E, which is the worst entry point for anything routine.

Source: GOV.UK — pay for UK healthcare

The NHS is administered from Leeds, and it shows in the digital services.

NHS England's headquarters is at Quarry Hill in the city centre, and the health-data and clinical-systems industry grew up around it — one of the two clinical record systems most English GP practices run is built in Horsforth. Practically, that means Leeds practices tend to have online consultation, app-based prescriptions and record access working earlier and more completely than the national average.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Waiting until you are ill to register with a GP.
Trying to register in the last two weeks of September, when the student intake arrives.
Paying per item for prescriptions when a prepayment certificate would cost less.
Assuming Scotland's free prescriptions apply in England — they do not.
Assuming the surcharge covers dentistry — NHS dental access is a separate and harder problem.

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