medicals

They say worry is a wasted emotion, this is never more true than in a situation where you have to go for a
medical with so much riding on it!
I worried myself sick for weeks over silly little things ( I think a little knowledge can sometimes be a dangerous
thing), then we found it was probably one of the most easy processes of the whole visa application.
There is nothing you can do but get it done, you can't change the outcome and when you find everything's
perfectly fine, you then realise that you've wasted a lot of time being stressed over nothing!

We had our medicals at the Manchester practise on the list, here you can get the medicals and the
x-rays done in one fell swoop, which we felt would be easier, less stressful and better for Josh (as in
th length of time he would have to be on his best behaviour for).
The staff at the doctors were really lovely, it was a private practise and you certainly saw how the
other half lived! We were asked to give samples of urine on arrival which were dipped to check for
blood, sugar, etc.
We had blood tests for HIV, Hepatitis etc.
The doctor took our blood pressure, pulse etc. he also checked our eyesight, now I'm very short
sighted with astigmatisms so I got a copy of my last eye test and took it with me so he had the exact
results, because when he asked me to take my glasses of and read the board I had to ask where it
was!!!! Only kidding, but not far off!
We had a full medical as in, checking ears, glands, spine (touching toes...another thing I can't do!),
etc.
It was completely painless and very discreet and professional, I could certainly recommend that
practise. It was also nice that we could all go in together if we wanted too.

I made sure I had copies of all hospital procedures from my GP records and hospital records for all of
us, this was much easier to do than I had anticipated and the receptionists were extremely helpful
when I explained why we needed them.

I really did worry about the medical, I think it was because a) I was scared what they might find and b) I
somehow felt that they were trying to catch me out by checking letters,referrals etc. which is bizarre because
I knew there was nothing the matter with us but I just couldn't get my head around the amount of detail
they wanted. It seemed extremely excessive.
However if was my sister Lorraine (who had been through this herself when moving to Sydney) who
explained it with more clarity (I'm the Health Professional and she's explaining it to me!). She explained
that because people from all over the world were applying to live in Australia they had to cover themselves
regarding all diseases and states of health in all countries, they were not trying to catch us out they were
just making sure they covered themselves and they couldn't do it differently for everybody so it was a
standard procedure. This really helped to put things into perspective and calmed me down, I hope it helps
you too!

The x-rays were easy enough too, very discreet and quick.

After everything was complete, the doctor then writes his report and seals it and sends it directly to
Immigration as does the Radiographer, therefore you need your file number for them too. I have
been told that a passport number is sufficient but we took our file numbers.

The doctor told us at the time that the urine tests were clear (he dipped them in front of us) and he
commented that he could see no problems, but that was the only feedback we got. Obviously the
blood tests were sent away so the doctor had to wait for the results of them before he could complete
his report.

The medicals cost a total of £500, this involved complete medicals and x-rays for myself and David
and a check up for Josh, he didn't need blood tests or x-rays thankfully, that would have been hard
work! Different ages require different tests, you will need to check the medical forms to clarify who
needs what.

Point to remember:
They ask you to take passport photo's of each of you, we thought it was one per application but it's 2, one for
the medical and one for the x-ray, please remember this as we had to run around Manchester City Centre trying
to find somewhere to get our pictures done properly (because we had Josh to do too and he couldn't sit by
himself) at 5pm and get them back to the clinic before they closed. However we did pass the chappy who plays
Les Battersby in Corrie so that was a bonus (we were quite near Granada Studios)._

19.01.07
Top tip from Phil and Andrea, Northumberland, UK: Had our medicals today.Phil and I
needed blood tests and chest Xrays and the kids just needed to be weighed,eyes
tested ,tummy felt etc.Pretty painless really until it came to parting with over £600!
Top tip- our nearest panel doctor was really expensive so I contacted the doctor
in Edinburgh(about a hundred mile drive) and booked an appointment with him.I
didnt really mind the car journey.When I called the local doctor to explain the
reason for cancelling the appointment,he priced matched and dropped his price
by £230! This very same GP drives a Jag.Not surprising really!