Medicals - does anyone feel conned?

[salvadordillon]

Hello,

We went for our medicals today, only two appointed in Essex to choose from. Upminster was the better choice due to being nearer to my work.

 

I have to say, the building was a converted house and to be honest i felt like i was back in time by around 20 years.

 

The doctor was nice enough, although considering he is earning such alot of money i would have thought he would have a good knowledge of the process once all the tests left him.

 

We were charged £460 for me and my husband for which we were in the surgery for just over 40 mins. Ummm, daylight robbery i think. £60 for a courier to Sydney. We have sent other papers over for alot less than that by courier.

 

I know its obviously a very important part of getting your visa but honesty. I didnt get a breast check, should i have? We felt we gave our medical history correctly, although knowing dates for past operations was tough.

 

Has anyone else had such a odd experience? And does anyone know the process once it leaves the doctor in this country?

 

Thanks, Lou & Mark

[rachel31]

lou and mark,

 

we live just south of bristol and we paid just under £500 for 2 adult medicals and 4 children. this incuded bloods for me and other half and we did not have to pay extra for them to be sent off to DIAC but we also had to pay for chest xrays for everyone over 11. i think you have been swindled!!!!! we did shop around quite a bit though and rang each place for a quote.

[Guest the4hopes]

It seems that many people have different experiences at their medicals, some have certain checks and some don't, which is confusing, because surely each medical form must be the same as they all go to Sydney? Also I think they should change the age for the blood test as my daughter was 15 and I think that is too young, she also had to have a breast examination!

[ThunderRoad]

We had our medicals today.

 

2 Adults 2 Children = £420

£41 for Medical Courier to Sydney

[Guest MarkIngram]

that sounds very expensive....we went to a BUPA hospital near Edinburgh Zoo (you may laugh)...but for me, my wife and 2 daughters it cost us £260 including bloods, Xrays etc. I think it can vary quite a bit depending on where you are...and unfortunately because only a few in each area do the tests they can probably charge what they like and get away with it.

[Guest Lucky]

Hello,

We went for our medicals today, only two appointed in Essex to choose from. Upminster was the better choice due to being nearer to my work.

 

I have to say, the building was a converted house and to be honest i felt like i was back in time by around 20 years.

 

The doctor was nice enough, although considering he is earning such alot of money i would have thought he would have a good knowledge of the process once all the tests left him.

 

We were charged £460 for me and my husband for which we were in the surgery for just over 40 mins. Ummm, daylight robbery i think. £60 for a courier to Sydney. We have sent other papers over for alot less than that by courier.

 

I know its obviously a very important part of getting your visa but honesty. I didnt get a breast check, should i have? We felt we gave our medical history correctly, although knowing dates for past operations was tough.

 

Has anyone else had such a odd experience? And does anyone know the process once it leaves the doctor in this country?

 

Thanks, Lou & Mark

Hi Lou and Mark. We used the same doctor as you mentioned in Upminster for our medicals over 2 years agao now and I too thought it was like stepping back in time...until the price! My husband is still suffering from the mental affects of the 'hands down his pants and cough' part of his medical!

We have recently had a medical for my son who is just over a year old and that was £70 for less than 10 minutes and all the doctor would say was that he was way too skinny but it wouldn't stop him getting into Oz!!

[Guest Admar72]

Hi Lou & Mark

We all went for our medicals last friday in Knightsbridge and although it was a 'posh street' and all that, yes it was bleeding expensive, cost us almost a thousand quid for the four of us including the £50 courier fee (bloody daylight robery) but hey ho it's all done now and thank goodness all's well and it's been DHL'd to Syndey and to top that our police checks arrived back today. So all going well and not about to grumble too much bout the cost. Just want the big V to come next.

Maria, Ad, Carl & Jordanne

[Guest guest3462]

Hi there,

Your costs sound about dead on right for the official charges. We paid £750 for 2 adults and 2 kids (under2!!) for medicals, bloods and cxr's plus £75 for a courier, then another £55 to repeat a urine test as I had failed the first one!!!

 

I just want to warn you though that this price is just the tip of the iceberg!!! We have been here 8 months now and we are just beginning to feel settled, but the financial cost has been mega. A conservative estimate for us would be $100,000 for us to make the move from visa application, to selling up in UK and starting again over here.

 

I don't want to totally dampen spirits, but please prepare yourselves for the shock to the system when the money starts to drain away!!!

JC xxx

[ken&wendy]

Can't remember how much it was for us - 2 adults 2 kids - but about £500 rings a bell. I was told I had to have a breast examination because of my age - I think he said all ladies over 40 had to have one - I was surprise to hear a 15 year old need one!

[Guest Lucky]

Hi there,

Your costs sound about dead on right for the official charges. We paid £750 for 2 adults and 2 kids (under2!!) for medicals, bloods and cxr's plus £75 for a courier, then another £55 to repeat a urine test as I had failed the first one!!!

 

I just want to warn you though that this price is just the tip of the iceberg!!! We have been here 8 months now and we are just beginning to feel settled, but the financial cost has been mega. A conservative estimate for us would be $100,000 for us to make the move from visa application, to selling up in UK and starting again over here.

 

I don't want to totally dampen spirits, but please prepare yourselves for the shock to the system when the money starts to drain away!!!

JC xxx

I hope you don't mind me asking (we're off in less than 2 weeks now) ...what initial costs did you find when you arrived in Oz? We have been told we'll need money for new driving licences, and also licences for my OH's work, but we would be interested to know what other costs you think we might incurr. We have sold our house so have the money from that, but it's hard to work out how much will be left for a new home.

Thanks,

Sue

[Guest guest3462]

When we first arrived we had only our suitcases, and as we had rented our UK house out fully furnished, we needed to buy everything from scratch here. It seemed that most things were rather expensive at first look, but it was easier to convert back to £'s and see if you would pay that much in England.

We spent approx $40,000 but this furnished our whole 3 bed rental and got us 2 decent used cars.

We arranged the rental before we left the Uk.We paid $1800 bond and a month upfront rent. It cost us $300 to arrange telstra in the rental (we got $200 back from the landlord eventually) $300 for foxtel (which is rubbish:biglaugh:) and $200 for the initial internet connection. Then $45 a month for internet access. We got pay as you go sims and they worked in our uk phones so if you can get yours unlocked before you come as its not cheap and if you have no job or aussie id it can be quite hard to get a contract phone.

We are still using our UK driving licences but once we get PR we will have to pay for this, it isn't that expensive i'm led to believe and you can pay for a year of 5 years I think.

We also built our home In Aldinga beach from England which incurred obvious costs.

 

Financial woe seems to follow us though and everything we do seems to cost us loads more than we anticipated. Even things like getting a fence put up round your house costs thousands. Even more if your neighbours refuse to pay half!!

 

Obviously these costs wont be the same for everyone, but it does help if you have some finacial security behind you. Hope this doesn't fill you with too much dread, as even though we are eternally skint, we are also eternally grateful and happy to be here and enjoying the wonderful life that we have!

 

Enjoy your last 2 weeks in England and have a safe journey to the sunny side

JC xxx:wubclub:

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you don't mind me asking (we're off in less than 2 weeks now) ...what initial costs did you find when you arrived in Oz? We have been told we'll need money for new driving licences, and also licences for my OH's work, but we would be interested to know what other costs you think we might incurr. We have sold our house so have the money from that, but it's hard to work out how much will be left for a new home.

Thanks,

Sue

[Guest vicbob]

I think the medicals are a bit of a racket. We had ours done in Dover (nice) and it too was a"lovely" surgery, although the staff and doctor were quite nice. I think it was about £380 for the two of us, not bad work if you can get it. Buckland hospital is also like stepping back 30 years.

[Guest Lucky]

Hi JC. Thanks for that...really helpful. We have a container load coming out and we have sent everything so hopefully not too much in the way of furniture and stuff to buy. But useful to know about the phones and internet.

Thanks again,

Sue

[Guest sforbes]

Hi Mark

 

I am looking to book medicals in the near future - I live in Dunfermline and have been looking at doctors in the Edinburgh area - can you recall the name of the practice that you visited? and how long ago did you have your's done.

 

Cheers for your help.

 

Sharon

[Guest Martin and Val]

We paid £400 for both of us back in Jan 2008. This week we received a letter from the clinic refunding us the VAT amount paid!

This could be a nice saving for a large family so be sure to ask if you should be paying VAT or not.

See this post: http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12228

Cheers

Martin