Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether treatments for long covid will be exempt from the NHS Charging Regulations; how many people considered not ordinarily resident for the purposes of NHS charging have accessed long covid services; and if he will make a statement.

Under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, no charge can be made to an overseas visitor for the diagnosis or, if positive, treatment of COVID-19. However, this exemption does not cover hospital treatment of any secondary or subsequent illnesses which arise from the initial COVID-19 infection, including ‘long’ COVID-19. Healthcare providers have a duty to assess what treatment for COVID-19 is exempt or chargeable, based on the views of clinicians. Data on the number of overseas visitors seeking access to services in relation to treatment of ‘long’ COVID-19 is not held centrally.