Charging 'overseas visitors' for NHS treatment, from Bevan to Windrush and beyond

TY - JOUR

T1 - Charging 'overseas visitors' for NHS treatment, from Bevan to Windrush and beyond

AU - Mchale, Jean V.

AU - Speakman, Elizabeth M.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Roberta Bivins, Rosie Harding, Ben Warwick and the Birmingham Law School Global Legal Studies group for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. They also very gratefully acknowledge the support of ESRC grant number ES/R002053/1. All opinions expressed and any errors which may remain are of course those of the authors alone. Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Legal Scholars.

PY - 2020/12

Y1 - 2020/12

N2 - This paper explores the development and operation of law and policy concerning the charging of overseas visitors for healthcare in England from the beginnings of the NHS to the present day. It highlights how this has been a highly contentious issue for decades, often linked with immigration policy, and is an area that still lacks comprehensive reliable empirical data to inform the debate. It explores and analyses the recent reforms to the NHS Overseas Charging Regulations introduced in 2015 and 2017. It demonstrates the problems in implementing the most recent regulations in an era of the 'hostile environment' and argues that the approach which has been taken can be seen as undermining the covenant of trust between patient and clinician and thus the fundamental principles of the NHS.

AB - This paper explores the development and operation of law and policy concerning the charging of overseas visitors for healthcare in England from the beginnings of the NHS to the present day. It highlights how this has been a highly contentious issue for decades, often linked with immigration policy, and is an area that still lacks comprehensive reliable empirical data to inform the debate. It explores and analyses the recent reforms to the NHS Overseas Charging Regulations introduced in 2015 and 2017. It demonstrates the problems in implementing the most recent regulations in an era of the 'hostile environment' and argues that the approach which has been taken can be seen as undermining the covenant of trust between patient and clinician and thus the fundamental principles of the NHS.

KW - health law

KW - NHS

KW - overseas visitors charging

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85097404776

U2 - 10.1017/lst.2020.26

DO - 10.1017/lst.2020.26

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85097404776

SN - 0261-3875

VL - 40

SP - 565

EP - 588

JO - Legal Studies

JF - Legal Studies

IS - 4

ER -