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Are you visiting the UK? Did you know that you may have to pay for hospital treatment whilst here?
This information explains why you may be charged for your hospital attendances and treatments. The Overseas Visitors Team will be advised that you are accessing NHS care at this hospital and will contact you by letter requesting that you contact a member of the team to make an appointment to assess your eligibility for NHS-funded care. At this point the Overseas Visitors Team can advise you of the type of evidence that may be required, depending on your circumstances.
If you believe that you are entitled to NHS-funded hospital treatment you must contact the Overseas Visitors Team to make this appointment to provide evidence to support your claim, otherwise you will have to pay for your treatment.
Establishing your entitlement to NHS treatment
The Department of Health Guidelines (2015)/ National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amendment) Regulations 2017, places a legal obligation on the Trust to establish whether a patient is an overseas visitor to whom charges apply. This will involve asking you the following questions:
- Have you been living legally in the UK for the last 12 months?
- Can you show that you have the right to receive NHS treatment free of charge?
All patients with less than 12 months residency in the UK will be asked to demonstrate their entitlement to NHS-funded treatment. If this is not available, the Trust will charge you for all treatment.
Following your appointment with the Overseas Visitors Team, you may be asked to provide further evidence to support your claim to NHS-funded treatment:
- If you are visiting from the EEA (European Economic Area) or from a country that has a ‘reciprocal agreement’ with the UK, it may be that you will have some entitlement to NHS-funded treatment but you must be able to produce either an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), PRC (Provisional Replacement Certificate) S1 or S2/E112 forms or travel insurance documents.
- If you arrived in this country after the 6thApril 2015 from a Non-EEA country and have paid the health surcharge, this will mean you are exempt from charge and will be treated as an NHS patient as long as you are not in breach of your Visa purpose or conditions. This will be checked by the Trust Overseas Visitors Team at the time of your interview.
Where there is still uncertainty regarding your entitlement to NHS-funded treatment, the Trust will contact the Home Office Evidence and Enquiry Unit to determine your eligibility.
Failure to adhere with any of the above will result in the relevant charges being made for your treatment.
If it is subsequently found that you are not entitled to NHS-funded treatment you will be asked to sign an ‘Undertaking to Pay’ form and pay the estimated cost of your treatment prior to this commencing. If your treatment is deemed to be routine and elective an upfront payment must be made in advance of your appointment, if payment is not received your appointment/admission will be cancelled.
For more information and to view the Department of Health Guidelines please visit the Department of Health website at www.gov.uk.