International patients

Treatment at our hospital is free to people who live in the United Kingdom.

However, if you do not normally live here, or are not included in one of the exemption categories listed below, you will have to pay for any treatment that you need. This is regardless of whether you are a British citizen, have lived or worked here in the past, or have been issued with a HC2 certificate.

The first question you need to ask yourself is:

Where have I lived for the past 12 months?

If the answer is the UK and you can show that you have the right to live here, then you will not have to pay any charges.

If you are not covered by any of the exemption categories listed below, then we recommend that you ensure that you have adequate health insurance to cover the period of time that you are in the UK.

Exemption categories

  • If you receive treatment in an Accident and Emergency department, or an NHS Walk-in Centre providing similar services to those of A & E (excludes emergency treatment given elsewhere in the hospital)
  • If you are employed in an EEA country and contribute to compulsory UK national insurance (class I or II)
  • If you are a national of an EEA country, a refugee, or survivor living in an EEA country, for specified treatment with an EC form E112

If you do not fit into any of these exemption categories, then you will be charged for the full cost of the treatment you receive, including emergency treatment, given by staff at the hospital.

You will be asked to sign an ‘Undertaking to Pay’ form and pay the full cost of your anticipated treatment before we start your treatment. We prefer you to pay by banker’s draft, although we do accept credit and debit cards, or cash.

If you have travel insurance you will have to pay for your treatment first and then reclaim it back from your insurance company afterwards. If for any reason, you require further treatment, additional charges will be made.

Exemption assessment

If you think that you are exempt from charges, a member of our Patient Services Administration Team will ask you to provide evidence to confirm that you are eligible to have free NHS treatment – we are required by law to do this.

If we decide that you can receive free NHS treatment, you will still have to pay for statutory NHS charges such as prescription charges, unless you are otherwise exempt.

If we decide that you are not entitled to free NHS treatment (in accordance with current overseas visitors hospital charging regulations), you will have to pay for your treatment and the full cost of any prescribed medication, even if you have an HC2 exemption certificate.

Further information is available on NHS Choices website:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/uk-visitors/Pages/accessing-nhs-services.aspx

Contact our Patient Services Administration Team to discuss your circumstances:

PatientAdmin@clatterbridgecc.nhs.uk