Patients and visitors
Information for overseas visitors

Information for overseas visitors

If you’re visiting the UK or have been living outside the country, you may be required to pay for NHS treatment. This applies even if you are a British citizen or have previously lived or worked in the UK in the past.

Which services are free of charge?

Urgent and emergency care delivered in the Emergency Department is free to all.

Which services are chargeable?

Overseas visitors may be required to pay for NHS funded secondary care treatment including:

Outpatient care and appointments
Assisted conception services
Maternity services
Elective care
Emergency admissions into hospital.

Urgent and immediately necessary treatment will not be withheld, although charges will apply.

When will payment be taken?

Charges will be raised as soon as is deemed clinically appropriate, with payment to be made in full while patients are in the hospital.

Upfront charges for Elective care will be recovered in full, in advance of providing treatment, unless doing so would delay the provision of treatment that is clinically assessed as either immediately necessary or urgent.

Charges are based on the estimated cost of treatment, any under or over payments will be settled or refunded after discharge based on the actual cost of care.

What action do overseas patients need to take?

Overseas patients must inform their insurer immediately, and will need to arrange to reclaim their costs from insurers, or provide a ‘Guarantee of Payment’ from their insurance provider for larger hospital charges.