§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria his Department uses to decide whether a patient is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom; and what guidance his Department has issued on this matter. [127332]
§ Mr. Hutton"Ordinarily resident" is a common law concept considered by the House of Lords in 1982 in the case of Rv. Barnet LBC ex parte Shah. Although the case being considered was in the context of the Education Acts, the Lords' interpretation is generally recognised as having a wider application. To be considered ordinarily resident a patient needs to be living lawfully in the United Kingdom voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their 253W life for the time being, with an identifiable purpose for their residence here which purpose has a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as settled.
It is for individual national health service trusts to decide whether a particular patient is ordinarily resident and therefore entitled to the full range of NHS treatment free of charge, or is liable to pay for hospital treatment under the provisions of the National Health Service (Charges for Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989. The Department of Health issued guidance to the NHS on this in 1988. Updated guidance was issued on 29 July 2003.