Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘How many people applied for a Provisional Replacement Certificate from outside the UK in each of the full calendar years from 2020 to 2024 (inclusive)?’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 2 January 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested and a copy of the information is below. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Data

2020 – 9,035

2021 – 8,092

2022 – 15,235

2023 – 24,104

2024 – 28,460

Notes

NHSBSA’s Overseas Healthcare Services team issue Provisional Replacement Certificates (PRC) for medically necessary healthcare that cannot reasonably wait until the named individual returns home. A PRC is issued when someone does not have a valid UK Global Health Insurance Card (UK GHIC) or European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

Medically necessary healthcare includes things like:

emergency treatment and visits to A&E

treatment for a long-term or pre-existing medical condition

routine medical care for pre-existing conditions that need monitoring

routine maternity care, as long as you're not going abroad to give birth

oxygen therapy and kidney dialysis

If someone is eligible for a PRC, it will normally provide the same cover that would be covered by an existing UK GHIC or UK EHIC. This means that they will be covered for emergency treatment costs as if they were a resident of that country.

A PRC only covers the named person for treatment they receive(d) at a public hospital, clinic or other treatment facility. If the individual received private treatment, they would need to consult their travel insurance.

Applications can be made by the patient, a third party e.g. a parent or guardian, a treatment facility, or a country. All PRCs are issued for people receiving treatment outside of the UK, however as applications can be made by third parties the location of the applicant is not recorded.

For more information on what the PRC covers, please follow the below link:

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/

The figures below quoted are for PRCs which were issued by the UK only and shows the number of people PRC applications were made for. There may be some double counting of applications at the end of a year and the start of the next year. 

For the first part of 2020 we have only recorded the number of PRCs issued per person and not applications which were incomplete or rejected. This is because we only started recording all applications in August 2020. For all other years, this includes all applications made whether incomplete, successful or unsuccessful.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing, the data please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025” Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.