Appendix 4
S.I. 2011/1556: memorandum from the Department
of Health
National Health Service (Charges to Overseas
Visitors) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/1556)
1. In its letter to the Department of 13th
July 2011, the Joint Committee requested a memorandum on the following
points:
(1) Precisely when does a person need to be present
in any of the places specified in paragraph 1(b) to (d) of regulation
8 (or, in a case within paragraph 1(a) of that regulation involving
presence otherwise than in England, in a part of the United Kingdom
other than England) in order to be within the exemption from charges
provided by that regulation?
(2) Given the apparent absence from the Regulations
of a provision for the making and recovery of charges in respect
of relevant services provided to a member of the family of
an overseas visitor, explain the inclusion of regulation 24.
2. The Department's response to each of the Committee's
points is outlined below.
Point (1)
The exemption at regulation 8 requires an overseas
visitor to be present at one of a list of places for a specified
purpose. At the time a patient begins a new course of treatment
at a relevant NHS body questions will be asked so that decisions
can be made about whether the patient should be charged or not.
If that person would be present in one of the listed places for
a listed purpose but for the fact they are at the relevant NHS
body then no charge may be made or recovered. It is the underlying
situation applying at the time a patient begins treatment which
is used to determine the presence test.
The Department considers that regulation 8, and the
context in which it falls to be considered by relevant NHS bodies
is clear and would be applied by the overseas charging officer
in NHS bodies as described. Regulation 8 replicates an earlier
provision in the 1989 overseas visitors regulations and so is
a presence test that has been applied for some time.
Point (2)
A family member of an overseas visitor may be an
overseas visitor themselves, and as such would be charged under
Regulation 3 if they are provided with relevant services.
The regulations set out a number of categories of
overseas visitor who are exempt from charges. Regulation 24 identifies
the circumstances in which an overseas visitor who is the family
member of a person in one of the categories identified in preceding
regulations, but who is not themselves directly exempt under one
of those other exemptions, can be exempt by virtue of their family
member status.
Department of Health
19th July 2011
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