The flat is half in boxes and the leaving date is circled on the calendar by the fridge. Somewhere between the shipping quote and the farewell dinners, it occurs to you that your NHS GP will soon not be yours, and the blood pressure review you kept postponing has nowhere left to go. People in this position rarely feel ill. They feel unfinished.
The plain question is whether a health check before moving abroad is worth doing, and what it can sensibly cover in the weeks you have left. It is a fair question. A useful check is not a battery of tests. It is a careful look at what you are taking with you: your diagnoses, your medicines, your records and anything you have been putting off.
One thing needs saying plainly at the start. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States accept immigration medicals only from doctors on their own approved lists, known as panel physicians. Clinique Alpa doctors are not panel physicians and cannot do those examinations. What a GP can do is the preparation around it.
Chest pain, signs of a stroke, severe breathlessness, heavy bleeding, a severe allergic reaction or symptoms of sepsis need 999 or A&E immediately. For urgent advice that cannot wait, call NHS 111.
What should a health check before moving abroad include?
What I look at first is the list of things you will need to keep going once you land. Every long term diagnosis, every regular medicine and every specialist you see. For each one the question is the same: what is the current plan, is it up to date, and could a new doctor in another country pick it up from a single page? Often the answer is nearly, but not quite. A dose changed by the hospital that never reached the GP record. A follow up scan that was due last spring. A diagnosis everyone in the family knows about and nobody has written down clearly.
Medicines deserve a few minutes of their own. Brand names often change from one country to the next, so the list a new doctor needs is the generic name of each medicine, its strength and how you take it, not the colour of the box. Some medicines that are routine here are treated differently at other borders, which is worth checking with the destination before you pack a supply.
Then the examination and the numbers. Blood pressure, measured properly and repeated if the first reading is high, because nerves and a brisk walk to the clinic both push it up. Weight. Heart and chest where your history makes them relevant. Blood tests are chosen from your history rather than from a menu: kidney and liver function if you take medicines that affect them, a blood count if you have been tired, sugar control and cholesterol if your risk points that way. Blood test prices on our site already include the £20 fee for taking blood, so it is not added again when you attend.
Results are only useful if someone explains them. Plan for a proper conversation about what each one means for you, which are normal for you and which a new doctor should keep an eye on, rather than a message read at the departure gate. That conversation is often where the plan for the move actually gets made.
Vaccinations come next. Some destinations call for vaccines that are not part of the routine UK schedule, and some courses need several weeks between doses, so it is worth raising early rather than in the final fortnight.
The piece most people miss is the symptom being saved for later. When this comes up in consultation, there is often something that has been quietly parked until after the move: a change in bowel habit, a mole that looks different, a mood that has been flat since the decision was made. Moving country is one of the more unsettling things an adult can do, and sleep is often the first thing to go. I would much rather hear about these in Palmers Green than have you carry them into a new health system while you are still learning how it works.
Finally, the paperwork. Ask your NHS practice for a copy of your records, or at least a summary of your diagnoses, medicines, allergies and vaccinations, well before you go. With your consent, a summary of our consultation goes to your NHS GP, so the two records agree. If you will be carrying medicines across borders, a travel medication letter can be written where clinically appropriate after assessment.
When should you book sooner rather than later?
Leaving 8 weeks before the move gives room for results, a second look and anything that needs following up. Book sooner if any of these apply:
- A vaccine course that needs more than one dose before you travel.
- A long term diagnosis that has not been reviewed in the past year.
- A symptom you have been meaning to mention, especially a lump, bleeding, weight loss you cannot explain or a mole that has changed.
- Regular medicines you will need to keep taking while you register with a new doctor abroad.
- A planned test or procedure that is still waiting for a date.
With only 2 weeks left it is tight, but still worth doing. A clear summary and one honest conversation are better than nothing.
What should you bring?
Your medicines in their boxes, or a typed list with doses. Any hospital correspondence and recent results. Your vaccination record if you have one. The name of the country and roughly how long you expect to stay. And the questions you have been carrying around in your head, written down.
How does a check before a move work at Clinique Alpa?
Start with a clinic consultation: 30 minutes with a named doctor at 466 Green Lanes for £100. That is where the history, the examination and the choice of tests happen. Tests are added only where your history calls for them, and if you would like something broader, our health screening page explains the options, and the full list of tests is on our test services page. Vaccines are covered on our travel vaccinations page.
If part of what you need is a conversation rather than an examination, such as talking through a plan once results are back, a video consultation with Dr Alpa J. Morawala is £79.99 for 30 minutes. If your new country requires a panel physician medical, read visa medicals for Canada, Australia or the US before you book anything, and arrange that examination with the approved doctor. If you are flying soon after an operation or late in pregnancy, the piece on fit to fly letters covers what an airline may ask for.
Written by Dr Mitesh Parmar, MBBS MRCGP, Principal GP and Clinical Director at Clinique Alpa, 466 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13 5PA. This article is general information, not personal medical advice. In an emergency call 999. For NHS advice call 111 or visit nhs.uk.