Treatment of historical issue / insurance etc

[hornetrider]

I smashed my patella up over a decade ago and, to cut a long story short, it was rebuilt and paid for by my employer's medical insurance at the time. I'm not with them anymore, and I don't have private healthcare either.

It's starting to give me quite a bit of grief lately, so I'm wondering what the correct course of action is. Do I go to the NHS doc as if it's a new issue and go through the process? Or will they refer me to go through my insurer at the time, even though it's a long time lapsed?