§ Mr. GerrardTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to review the NHS guidelines for the treatment of people from abroad. The Under-Secretary of State for Health, [120003]
§ Ms StuartPolicy on overseas visitors is kept under continuous review. New regulations were recently introduced which require the new primary care trusts to identify and charge overseas visitors where necessary and which also clarified the removal of Hong Kong from the list of countries with which we hold reciprocal healthcare agreements. (The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Amendment Regulations 2000. SI 2000 No.602).
In addition, we are looking at the current guidance available to hospitals and the public with a view to producing revised versions which are more user friendly.