§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the NHS residence criteria are for entitlement to treatment; [169915]
(2) on what occasions NHS staff are required to ask patients to state their country of residence. [169917]
§ Mr. HuttonAnyone who is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom is entitled to receive free National Health Service treatment, subject to certain statutory charges, such as prescription charges.
General practices check details of an individual's ordinary residence or previous registration before deciding whether to accept the person as a registered patient, either on a permanent or temporary basis. This is set out in Regulations and Guidance. For hospital services, Regulations require the NHS trust providing treatment to establish whether a person is ordinarily resident or if not, whether they are exempt from charges under a number of categories of exemption or liable to be charged. Guidance issued in April 2004 makes clear that in order to establish ordinary residence all patients should be asked the same residence-based baseline questions whenever they begin a new course of hospital treatment.