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 Whiteknights, Redlands and the town centre absorb a large student intake each September, so register before it rather than during it.
In personWho: YouWeek 1 - 2
Know where the emergency department is and how you would get there
A&E for Reading is at the Royal Berkshire Hospital on London Road, just east of the town centre. It is a cramped Victorian site with very limited parking, and its rebuild is now a 2037–2039 construction start rather than the 2025–2026 one originally trailed. In a genuine emergency call 999; for anything else, use 111 first, because the urgent care route is faster for you as well as for them.
OnlineWho: You - 3
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 - 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 the Royal Berkshire with something 111 would have resolved means a long wait as the lowest priority on a site that has no room to absorb you.
Mobile appWho: You - 5
Find a dentist taking NHS patients early
NHS dental access is under real strain nationally and the Thames Valley 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 Reading 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
The new Royal Berkshire Hospital is a 2030s project, not a current one.
The trust has spent years consulting on rebuilding or relocating, and a great deal of local property marketing implies it is imminent. The January 2025 review of the New Hospital Programme moved the scheme to a construction start between 2037 and 2039, with the existing site needing around £200m of maintenance in the meantime. If hospital access matters to your household, assess the hospital that exists today.
Source: Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust — New Hospital Programme
England charges for prescriptions and the rest of the UK does not.
Scotland abolished the charge in 2011, Wales in 2007 and Northern Ireland in 2010. England still levies a per-item fee. If you take regular medication that is a real annual cost that does not exist in the other three nations, 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: GOV.UK — get a prescription prepayment certificate
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 possible entry point for anything routine and particularly so on a site as constrained as this one.
Source: GOV.UK — pay for UK healthcare
Common mistakes to avoid
- Waiting until you are ill to register with a GP.
- Assuming the Royal Berkshire rebuild is imminent because a listing says so.
- Paying per item for prescriptions when a prepayment certificate would cost less.
- Assuming Scotland's or Wales' free prescriptions apply in England — they do not.
- Driving to the Royal Berkshire in an emergency and losing twenty minutes to parking.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.
Make it your personal checklist
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Sources
- NHS — how to register with a GP surgery — official
- Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust — New Hospital Programme — official
- GOV.UK — get a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) — official
- GOV.UK — pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application — official
- NHS 111 — official
Last verified August 2026. Government processes change — always confirm critical details against the official source before acting.