Regulations and Identification
Within England, free NHS hospital treatment is provided on the basis of someone being ‘ordinarily resident’.
Being ordinarily resident is not dependent upon nationality, payment of UK taxes, National Insurance contributions, being registered with a GP, having an NHS number or owning property in the UK.
Those who are not ordinarily resident in the UK, including former UK residents, are overseas visitors and may be charged for NHS services.
Treatment in A&E/ Emergency Departments and at GP surgeries remains free for all.
There are exemptions in place to protect the most vulnerable in society and for key services essential to public health. This ensures that urgent or immediately necessary treatment will always be provided, regardless of an individual’s ability or willingness to pay for that treatment.
The rules are set out in the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 (as amended); The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015
From 23 October 2017 the law in the UK placed a requirement on all providers of NHS-funded secondary care to make and recover charges from overseas visitors where relevant services have been provided to them and no exemption applies.
This means that patients may be asked to provide documentation to prove their residency in the UK before treatments are given.
The baseline questions you will be asked are:
Have you lived in the UK for the past six months? (Y/N)
Do you have an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) or other documents to show that you are entitled to free NHS care? (Y/N)
If you think that you are exempt from charges, our Overseas Visitors Manager will ask you to provide evidence to confirm that you are eligible to have free NHS treatment – we are required by law to do this.
It may be that not all of your immigration information is showing on your national record for us to determine your eligibility or that other information is missing.
So it is important that you respond to requests for evidence so that we can investigate and add your status to your record.
Failure to respond will likely result in you being deemed chargeable for your treatment.
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