I ticked the box for the new E111 card to be sent out to us when I filled out the old-style paper E111 at the post office in the middle of August last year - we finally received them just before Christmas, 4 months later!!!

Hi Retsina ... almost 13 million EHIC cards were issued in the weeks and months leading up to Christmas, in preparation for withdrawal of the E111 on 31 December and implementation of the EHIC system on 1 January.

The issue was programmed over a period of months, so that future renewals will also be staged over a period of months, preventing overwhelming demand and possible chaos every few years with the prospect of 13 million cards all expiring at the same time.

David

yorkshire*rose if you would like to call the departments public enquiry line, 020 7 210 4850, let them know you are yorkshire*rose from the holiday truths site and leave some details we will see where everything is and get back to you. It's important to ID yourself otherwise they will advise you to call the EHIC Enquiry line.

A check did indicate that there was a computer problem at the PPA but on 18 Dec and that was a one day thing.

hi all.. I ticked the box when i got my e111 and waited till the end of November nothing had arrived so i then applied on line,as we are off in February i was beginning to twitch a bit when yesterday they arrived validated to 2010 now all i need to do is remember in 4 yrs to re apply

wizard

Have just got back from shopping and my cards have finally arrived 28 days after applying on line. There is no post mark on the envelope so have no idea the date they were sent. The letter inside just says January 2006. Dont know if they sent them yesterday after me ringing or what, but the person i spoke to said they are sent away to be printed. Maybe the printers broke down when it came to printing mine Thanks DH for taking the time to try and help me. I think that the website needs to change their estimated time because there is a big difference in the time scale these cards are arriving to there destinations.

Hi YR ... glad to hear your cards have arrived at last. Perhaps DH Advice can confirm when next online, but I think those timescales which you mention refer to completely new applications by web, phone or post. The original batch of 13 million EHIC cards requested via the old E111 applications could not have been completed within those timescales, as even if it was technically possible, it would result in major problems in future years with so many cards all expiring at the same time. For that reason, issue of EHIC cards requested via old E111 forms were scheduled over a period of several months, as applicants could still make use of their E111 until the end of December 2005. Obviously something went wrong with yours, and perhaps checks had to be made between your original application via the E111 and your later application which was made online, before a new card could be issued. But at least it's sorted now.
David

This is the response to my email

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your EHIC application

I can confirm that an online EHIC application is usually issued within 7 working days.

If you had ticked the relevant box on the E111 form the EHIC would have been automatically issued to you and you would have recieved it before 31/12/05

I am concerned that there is a problem with the information supplied e.g. your address

To allow me to check your application, could you please provide the following information

Date of birth, NI or NHS number and full address.

That is just a standard reply to me, i did tick the box and i was not automatically sent one, i applied on line and it took 4 weeks to arrive, my name and address was correct and NI numbers where given, no apology or explanation as to why it took so long, or why i was told totally different things from 2 people on the helpline.

The target times for issuing EHICs are as follows:

On line - 7 days

Phone - 10 days

Post - 21 days

Reissues - 10 days

The average turn around for on line orders is 3-4 days and about 43% of EHIC orders are coming through that route. The EHICs ordered via the E111 form were only due to arrive before the E111's ran out at the end of the year and we sent all those that we had by end Nov/start of Dec 2005.

yorkshire*rose

The cards are printed one side with your info and then matched up with the correct back (England, Scotland, wales or NI) before being attached to the letter and posted. The PPA couldn't have put a fresh order in and get it in the post all in one day for next day arrival so it must have been in the post before you called.

Still does not explain why mine took so long to arrive ticked box on old e111 that did not arrive so applied on line on the 14th December, cards recieved on the 11th January even with the Christmas period that is a lot longer than the 3 - 4 days you are quoting that 43% are recieving them and longer than the 7 days the site is quoting. My parents need some of these cards soon so i will apply on line for them and it will be interesting to see how long it takes for theirs to arrive. At least i have them now, i just wanted to know why they took so long to arrive, i hope you see my point of view, if i had ordered something and it said 7 days delivery and it arrived 4 weeks later i would want to know why.

I ordered our EHIC cards online 3 days ago, and our sons' ones arrived this morning

So somebody there is working hard!

yorkshire*rose

Sorry for the delay in coming back I but have a few sites to check through and answer any questions.

I am also sorry for the delay in getting you your cards but there is no way of checking what happened without your details.

The general problems we know about include the computer problem on 18 Dec and difficulties with a few E111 EHIC applications that couldn't be scanned for various reasons. Nothing though that would explain all your problems. I put a EHIC application through myself last week and it arrived within the seven days.

If you want to take it further your options are to go back to the PPA (the people that handle EHIc for us) or to write or e mail the Dept of Health public enquiry office.

How do i contact these people as i did email and have posted the reply i got. Do you work for this department as i could email you my name and date of birth so you can check what went wrong. I recieved another set of cards this morning so from having none we now have 2 each Thanks for replying.

I handle the adverts and publicity for EHIC so it would be best to use one of these routes.

Either contact the Department of Health by e mailing to

dhmail@dh.gsi.gov.uk

or writing to the Customer Service Centre, Dept of Health, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2NS

The other option is the EHIC Enquiry Line and website which you have already tried. These are run by the PPA but for the DH.

I ordered my EHIC online on 6/12/05, having not received it I phoned on 4/01/06 to enquire and was informed that it had been processed and posted but another one would be sent out for me. I received a card on tuesday 10/01 then I receved another today 12/01, having looked closer at the cards I notice that the first one I received runs for five years from 6/12/05 and the second one for five years from 4/01/06 so maybe there was a 30 day delay at the Royal Mail

re my previous posts - hubby's and my cards arrived today, so I am very pleased with the service - 4 days!

Thanks again to HT for informing us we need them.

I ordered mine on Monday and received them on Wednesday

Very impressed!

Following up on Handyandys post I have checked things out with the PPA.

Once they sent out the final E111 EHICs all new EHICs were given a five year life span. The date on the card indicates when the information was entered at the PPA rather than when the card was posted but there shouldn't be more than a day or so difference.

Also for anyone that called the line for a new card because of a delay and now has two as a result I can confirm that they do not cancel the old card unless the card is returned or goes out of date so both are active. If you would like to cancel one of the cards it needs to be returned to the address on the back of the card with a note saying why it has been returned.

Must say i was quite pleased with the turn around of mine and Mrs sharmbounds cards.Applied online approx a week and a half ago and they arrived within a week.

Seems like the mad rush might be over

Confused......... is my 14 yr old son still covered by my E111 card, as i just tried applying on-line for him and it said applicants must be 16yrs of age.

Thanks for any help

Lynne