1Hello, Mrs Sutton. Come in.
2How are you settling in next door?
3Have all your things from Canada arrived yet?
4I thought I saw a removals van outside your house yesterday afternoon.
5Yes. They came yesterday.
6We spent all day yesterday arranging them.
7It's beginning to feel a bit more like home now.
8Oh that's good.
9Look, come in and sit down.
10Are you alright?
11You look a bit worried.
12Well, I am a bit.
13I'm sorry to bother you so early, Mrs Smith, but
14I wonder if you could help me.
15Could you tell me how I can get hold of a doctor?
16Our daughter, Anna, isn't very well this morning and...
17I may have to call somebody out.
18She keeps being sick and I am beginning to get a bit worried.
19I just don't know how the health system works here in England.
20All I know is that it's very different from ours back in Canada.
21Well, I don't know really where to start.
22Let me think.
23Well, the first thing you have to do is find a family doctor -
24sometimes we call them general practitioners as well -
25and register with him or her.
26If you live here, you've got to be on a doctor's list.
27If you're not, things can be a bit difficult.
28Nobody will come out to you if you're not registered.
29Anyway, they work in things called practices.
30Sort of small groups of family doctors all working together in the same building.
31Now what you've got to do this morning is register with one of them.
32There are two practices near here,
33so we're quite well off for doctors in this part of Manchester.
34There's the Dean End Health Centre about ten minutes' walk away
35and there's another practice in South Hay.
36That's about five minutes away going towards the town centre.
37We're registered at the Dean End one,
38but they're both okay.
39There are about six doctors in our practice and four in the other.
40So ours is quite big in comparison.
41And the building and everything's a bit more modern.
42South Hay is a bit old-fashioned but the doctors are okay.
43Their only problem is that they don't have a proper appointment system.
44Sometimes you have to wait for ages there to see someone.
45Anyway, you go to the receptionist in whichever health centre
46and ask her to register you with a doctor there.
47You have to fill in a form, but it doesn't take long.
48Ours is called Dr Jones
49and we've been going to him for years -
50ever since we moved here fifteen years ago.
51I wouldn't say he's brilliant but I suppose he's alright really.
52We're used to him now.
53They say he's very good with elderly people,
54but he does tend to get a bit impatient with children.
55Listen, the one who's supposed to be really good with small children is Dr Shaw.
56I've heard lots of people say that.
57She's young and she's got small children of her own.
58So you could try registering with her.
59And if her list's full,
60I heard somebody say the other day that there's a really nice young doctor at South Hay,
61a Dr Williams.
62He holds special clinics for people with back trouble.
63But that's not really your problem, is it?
64If you want a doctor to visit you at home,
65you have to ask for a home visit.
66You're supposed to do that before 10.30 in the morning,
67but obviously, if it's an emergency, you can phone at any time, night or day.
68It might not be your doctor that comes, though.
69It's quite often one of the other doctors in the practice.
70It doesn't really seem to make much difference.
71Otherwise you make an appointment to see your doctor at the health centre.
72You usually get seen the same day.
73Not always of course, but usually, as I say.
74They hold surgeries between 9 and 11.30 every weekday,
75and from 4 to 6.30 Monday to Thursday.
76Saturdays are only for emergencies.
77When the doctor sees you, he gives you a prescription.
78He writes what medication you need on it and you take it to a chemist's shop.
79There's one opposite the centre.
80If it's for a child under 16, you don't have to pay.
81So if it's for Anna, there's no problem.
82The same thing goes if you're unemployed or retired, or if you're pregnant.
83Just as well because it's not cheap.
84You pay the same price for each item the doctor has prescribed.
85At the moment it's something like £5 per item.
86So you pay for the medication but the consultation with the doctor doesn't cost you anything.
87It's completely free as long as you're a resident here.
88You're going to be here for three years, aren't you?
89So there shouldn't be any question of you paying anything to see the doctor.
90So that's one less problem to worry about.
91Look, Mrs Sutton. If you want,
92I'll sit with your daughter for half an hour if you want to go down to the health centre to register.
93It's no trouble really, don't worry.
94Are you sure you wouldn't mind?
95That would really help me a lot.
96I'll ask them if they can send someone round later to see Anna.
97I think I'll try the Dean End Centre.
98Good idea.
99Don't worry about Anna.
100Right. I'll be back as soon as I can.