Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle health tourism.

The Department is committed to recovering National Health Service charges from overseas visitors and continues to support the NHS in achieving a higher rate of cost recovery from chargeable overseas visitors and migrants and reduce health tourism rates. This has raised over £1.3 billion since 2015, with the total amount identified continuing to rise each year from £89 million in 2012/13 to £464 million in 2018/19.

The Government recently announced an investment of £1 million to expand a team of NHS experts whose role is to assist and support NHS organisations to understand the cost recovery rules and ensure they are applied fairly and consistently.

In January 2019, the Government increased the rates of the immigration health surcharge to £400 per year, or £300 for students, to better reflect the actual costs to the NHS of treating those who pay the surcharge. This now generates over £400 million per year for the NHS whilst reducing the administrative burden on the NHS associated with identifying and charging eligible patients.

Since 2017, chargeable patients seeking to access treatment that is not urgent or immediately necessary are required to pay upfront and in full before they receive the treatment.