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Not giving medical advice but you probably shouldn't be going to A&E for a sprained ankle unless it's very serious or a suspected break. For people who are not
by robjan 6y ago
Not giving medical advice but you probably shouldn't be going to A&E for a sprained ankle unless it's very serious or a suspected break.
For people who are not ordinarily resident in the UK an A&E admission costs £100-£500 plus any tests and treatment. There's a small amount of margin which is used to offset the cost of recovering the money and the fact that sometimes the bills go unpaid.
- arethuza 6y agoYeah most of the NHS hospitals I know have "Minor Injury Units" - I generally think that if you can make your own way there they it probably isn't one for A&E. Mind you the last time I went for something I thought wasn't very serious (a cat bite) I was told to go to A&E pretty quickly!
- varispeed 6y agoI see, so it is not the kind of situation when you need to consider getting mortgage to pay off the medical bill. It was just an example. General advice I heard is that when you can't go to GP and walk-in is either too far away or closed, you can go to A&E or call 111 for instructions.
- robjan 6y agoIt's not like the US system where people have to choose whether or not to call an ambulance but it's obviously better for visitors to come with health insurance since a policy covering most emergency healthcare, and various other eventualities that could happen on a trip, is probably around US$10-20 pp.