Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many written submissions they have received as part of the review of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amendment) Regulations 2017; how many case studies were submitted to the review where urgent care was withheld; and what assessment they have made of the number of case studies submitted where urgent care was, or may have, been incorrectly withheld.

The Department engaged with 79 organisations as part of the process of reviewing of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 and received 57 formal responses. Of these, 22 case studies included instances where individuals were required to make advance payment for treatment that the Department has concluded was arguably, on proper analysis, immediately necessary and/or urgent.

The common issue in these cases is that clinicians have not fully taken into account the date at which those seeking treatment have been expected to leave the United Kingdom, something that national guidance is clear must be taken into consideration when making a decision as to whether or not treatment is considered urgent. To mitigate this risk and help ensure the regulations are applied as intended the Department has updated its guidance, published on 24 December 2018, and is planning further updates to relevant training material and case studies in early 2019 to ensure all relevant circumstances are considered when deciding if a treatment is to be considered immediately necessary, urgent or non-urgent.