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England Health care
England Health care
In the United Kingdom, there is no cost to a patient at point of service, due to the welfare state system. In a medical emergency, dial 999 or 112. These numbers are free of charge from any telephone. For advice on non-emergency medical problems, you can ring the 24 hour NHS Direct service on 0845 4647 or check their website for advice. However, hospitals are wary of health tourists and if obviously not from England, may ask where you are from and if within the EU, for your EHIC card (previously known as E111).
Emergencies can be dealt with under the NHS (National Health Service) at any hospital with an A & E (Accident & Emergency) department. At A&E departments, be prepared to wait for up to 2-3 hours during busy periods before being given treatment if your medical complaint is not too serious. Obviously, more serious ailments are usually treated immediately. Evenings are normally busiest, particularly on Fridays and Saturdays and in city centres.
For advice on minor ailments and non-prescription drugs, you can ask a pharmacist (there are many high-street chemists). These are increasingly using green signs similar to ones seen in Europe to identify them. Small pharmacies are also found inside many larger supermarkets. Major pharmacies are Boots, and Lloyds, at least one of these can be found in any city or large town and quite often some smaller towns too. These two firms can issue drugs prescribed by a doctor as well as any over the counter drugs. Superdrug, Semi-Chem, Bodycare and Savers do sell some over the counter medication but are not to be considered as places to go for advice about minor ailments. A smaller range of medication can also be found in most supermarkets. ID is usually required when buying medication if you look under 25.
Smoking is prohibited in all public buildings. All enclosed workplaces are lawfully required to be smoke free. Some restaurants provide separate rooms for smokers and many pubs now have outdoor beer gardens where smoking is permitted, while many places will have a group of people standing outside the front door or off to one side to smoke.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about England
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England Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.