People who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom are not charged for NHS hospital services. Statutory regulations place hospital trusts under a legal obligation to identify and recover charges from overseas visitors who are not exempt from paying for treatment.
In July 2014, the Department of Health set an ambition to recover, by the middle of this Parliament, £500 million annually from improving identification and recovery from chargeable patients, and from introducing a new immigration health surcharge. This represents a substantial increase from the amount of £73 million recovered in 2012–13.
National Audit Office report
The NAO are producing a report on this issue, to be published shortly, and the work will examine the progress the Department and NHS are making to increase the amount identified and recovered from those overseas patients who are not entitled to free treatment.