Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the NHS of treatment provided free of charge to overseas visitors who are not residents of the UK.

The Department does not hold the data requested on the number of overseas visitors who receive free National Health Service treatment.

The Department and NHS England annually publish data on the income identified, recovered and written off from chargeable overseas visitors in England in the Departments Annual Report and Accounts annually and in NHS England’s consolidated NHS provider accounts. The information for the last five years is available at the following links:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6745b836e7cf64050b8098c4/consolidated-nhs-provider-accounts_annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024_print-ready.pdf (page 79)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/676150ef26a2d1ff18253415/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-2024-web-accessible.pdf (page 284)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65b2a4fc5f8ce2000d3ae544/consolidated-provider-accounts-2022-to-2023-print.pdf (page 74)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65b236c81702b10013cb1289/DHSC-Annual-report-and-accounts-2022-2023-web-accessible.pdf (page 275)

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/consolidated-provider-accounts-21-22-final.pdf (page 66)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63e50dc0d3bf7f05c8e947a8/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-2022_web-accessible.pdf (page 319)

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Consolidated-NHS-provider-accounts-2020-21.pdf (page 74)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61fbfacc8fa8f538882511f3/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-2021-web-accessible..pdf (page 249)

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/consolidated-nhs-provider-accounts-19-20.pdf (page 74)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6012c98bd3bf7f05bae2237f/Department_of_Health_and_Social_Care_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2019-20.pdf (page 167)

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Consolidated_NHS_Provider_Accounts_Web_Accessible.pdf (page 74)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d2747dfed915d698a04d5a6/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2018-to-2019-print-ready.pdf (pages 32-33)

NHS charges can be recovered up to six years from the date of invoice, and therefore the amount recovered in a year does not necessarily mean it was identified in the same financial year.