Medical Treatments: Overseas Visitors
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the operation of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 in relation to maternity services provided to non-resident individuals who are the partners of British citizens and are expecting children who will acquire British citizenship at birth; whether his Department has issued guidance to NHS trusts on the application of discretion, proportionality or consideration of maternity care previously received overseas when calculating charges; what assessment he has made of the transparency and consistency of the application of maternity tariffs and the overseas visitor charging uplift across NHS trusts; and whether he has considered introducing a differentiated approach to charging in cases involving British citizen parents and children who will be British citizens from birth.
Answered by Karin Smyth
No assessments have been made on the operation, transparency, and application of the overseas visitor charging regulations with respect to maternity services and no guidance has been issued to National Health Service trusts on the application, proportionality, or consideration of maternity care previously received overseas, when calculating charges.
Individuals who are not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom may be charged for some NHS services, however, maternity care is considered immediately necessary or urgent care and so must never be delayed because a patient cannot pay. As the NHS is a residency-based system and having British nationality does not mean someone is automatically considered ordinarily resident, no differentiated approach has been considered.
The Department is working closely with NHS England to ensure the overseas visitor charging regulations are applied fairly and consistently across all NHS trusts.
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