Jock...You sound smart enough to get qualified and be a GP....if you do let us know how it looks from the other side of the desk.
If you do not pay UK income tax any more you might find you do not now even qualify for NHS free care.
Cheers and good luck with the diet.

No chance way to old for a start and too thick. I think my sympathetic listening skills would be a bit lacking as well.

And if anyone picks this thread up in a search. The symptons I described have now gone after stopping taking the lipod.

And the diet is going pretty good actually.

My UK AME who is a GP is being an absolute star and doing the biz via email. I just go and pay $30 for the lipid test locally and send him the results. I think a bottle of 20 year malt will be due next time I see him. Apparently I am not the only pilot who has had this issue while working abroad.

His instructions are exactly the same as gingernuts and his views on who nurse/doctor managing it are the same as his as well.

Ex-pats don't have a problem with free care. You can also pay NI contributions which means you don't loose any benefits when/if you eventually decide to come back to live/work.

There could be a payment problem with free NHS care if the questions are ever asked.
Some branches of the UK medical profession today appear to be more "required" to ask about eligibility for NHS free care as an SOP.
After a recent heart attack the UK hospital to which I was blue lighted the
accounts people certainly asked me.
After my treatment.... I was required to convince them of my eligibility to free care.... via time resident and recent tax returns...I think it was to complete their paper work.

In the case of long term expats. returning and seeking NHS free care,the period to complete one tax year and send off their tax return could be important....it seems wise to have private medical insurance cover for this period.

The Class 3 NI contributions by an expat. non resident in the UK.
Only "Protects their yearly contributions" to their UK State pension.

Apparently these Class three contributions and have nothing at all to do with eligibility for the NHS free care.

I could be totally wrong on all of the above but I am comforted that you have found the bottle of "Something Nice" system also works wonders.

Possibly what you say is correct for Scotland and what I say is correct for England.

Anyway according to the Daily Mail the best way to return to the UK seems to be as a political refugee seeking asylum and that way you could also get a free house and live on benefits and also save on buying the bottle.
Cheers.

The 2004 act which deals with this stuff is only applicable to England.

To my knowledge Scotland and Wales NHS still stick to the pre 2004 rules. If anyone knows any different please sing out.

More than likely because we never had the same problem with health care commuters from Spain.

So English folk who retired to Spain for a few years and are now returning for whatever reason... could find they are out of the English NHS system for at least 18months and should possibly head for Scotland... if they have a significant health problem....looks to me like this dream of retirement to the sun stuff can get expensive.

I think you'll find that the reverse is the case now.

If they take the trouble to comply with the EHIC system there should not be a problem.

Must admit I won't be going to a dentist again in the UK.