ABSTRACT
The National Health Service (NHS) is England’s state health provider, offering primary and secondary care services to all requiring treatment. 1 Established in 1948, the roles and functions of all NHS organisations are now set out in both the NHS Act 2006 and the 2012 NHS Constitution for England, which provide a set of rights for patients, public and staff, while creating responsibilities for those in and using the NHS, as well as for government. Critically, the NHS Constitution in Principle 1 commits the NHS to providing ‘a comprehensive service, available to all’, while Principle 2 sets out that ‘access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not an individual’s ability to pay’ (Department of Health and Social Care 2015). Therefore, not everyone present in England is entitled to free-at-the-point-of-use health care. While everyone has a right under the NHS Constitution to access services, they do not have the right to receive treatment for free. Migrants and visitors, therefore, all have access to NHS services but may be charged for any care they receive.
