Hi All,

I'm new to this site and not sure if I'm posting this in the right area. I have a 2 year working visa for London but will also be traveling around Europe including: Italy, France and Croatia later this year. I don't want to have to carry 2 years of contraceptive tablets in my back pack so I want to find out what my options are. A friend mentioned in London most people buy their pills online. I found a website http://www.loxdoc.com/noriday/ that sells my pill and want to know what you think? Being from Australia we don't have to pay to see a doctor as they do bulk billing. I don't want to have to pay for a doctor to give me a script every time I need a script (on a budget). Little confused on what to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciate!
Abs

Assuming this isn't a plug for that website, I'm pretty sure having a working visa the UK allows you to receive free contraception on the NHS. You may even be able to register with a GP or visit a sexual health clinic in your area.

I wouldn't buy online - how do you know what you're getting is genuine? The consequence are pretty drastic; you're left holding the baby both figuratively and actually.

Check out this site for contraception on the NHS
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/contrac...raception.aspx

and this for your rights to healthcare in the UK
http://tinyurl.com/axskojm

If you are taking OCs you should be seeing your MD - FP or Gyn - on a regular basis. And they usually give an Rx for 6 months of pills at a time - so that would mean probably 3 MD visits while you are there.

You don't mention what kind of work it is - but does the job provide health insurance? Many do. (My colleagues at several companies in London all get health insurance.) And even if you have to pay out of pocket I believe the rates are VERY low.

If you are living and working in the UK, you presumably will be signing up with a local GP (free, on the NHS), who can prescribe your pills for you. You don't pay for visits to the doctor in the UK, only for (subsidised) prescriptions.

Or you can find a family planning clinic, if that's for preference.

"A friend mentioned in London most people buy their pills online"

abbyok, your friend is wrong.

I have never heard of anyone buying their pills online. You will want to sign up for a GP as discussed above once you move, and then they will give you a presriptions (free) for 6 months at a time. You need to revisit the GP every time you need a perscription or until your GP agrees otherwise.

With a working visa:

- Once you're working, access to GPs is free, and the contraceptives they prescribe are free anyway (another reason to wonder where on earth you got the stuff about "everyone goes online" from).

- If you're not working, in theory non-European foreigners with a visa can't get free GP access, though they can get emergency treatment. In practice, this is interpreted at the GP's discretion and it's overwhelmingly likely you'd get your prescription for free if you lost your job or were waiting between two temporary contracts.

But to be on the safe side, bring a few months' supply with you. And sign up to a GP as soon as you've got a reasonably permanent address.

In emergency, you can use a hospital A&E, or check the NHS website for emergency contraception. But you make yourself unpopular in A&E if you've just forgotten to get a new prescription, and in city centre hospitals this can frequently result in colossal waiting times, with "real" emergencies forever being moved up into the queue ahead of you.

If you have a two year working visa you will be eligible for NHS care. Register with a GP as soon as possible after arrival. Don't wait until you need a doctor to start looking for one.

I've suggested to the moderators that they take out the link from the OP since the thread as a whole contains more useful information.