Thank you for your request for information about the following:

‘I would like to request the following information under FOI please.

The information I am requesting relates to the S2 entitlement scheme for Overseas Healthcare Services which is managed by the NHSBSA.

1- How many S2 entitlement requests were made to the NHS for planned treatment in a European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland in the last five years.

• Please provide the data by calendar year for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 so far.

• Please provide the data by treatment type, hip operations, gynecology, urology, ENT etc.

2- How many of those requests were approved?

• Please provide the data by calendar year for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 so far.

• Please provide the data by treatment type, hip operations, gynecology, urology, ENT etc.

3- Please state how much was paid to the European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland for patient treatments approved under the S2 programme.

• Provide the data by calendar year, so how much was paid to these countries in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 so far.

• Provide the data broken down by country for each year, as above.

4- How much money did the UK claim back in respect of NHS treatment of those countries' nationals.

• Please provide the data by calendar year for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 so far.’

Your request was received on 23 November 2022, and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Question 1

The NHSBSA does not receive or approve S2 applications. Therefore, we do not hold this information. Please contact the devolved NHS organisations for each home nation of the UK. We have listed them below:

England

NHS England

PO Box 16738

Redditch

B97 9PT

Telephone 0300 311 22 33

Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Scotland

Customer Service Desk

NHS National Services Scotland

Gyle Square

1 South Gyle Crescent

Edinburgh

EH12 9EB

Tel: 0131 275 6665

Email: NSS.Communications@nhs.net

Website: www.isdscotland.org

Web form http://www.nhsnss.org/pages/corporate/foi_request_form.php FOISA Disclosure log http://www.nhsnss.org/pages/publications/foi_disclosures.php

Wales

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership

Freedom of Information Requests

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership,

4-5 Charnwood Court,

Heol Billingsley,

Parc Nantgarw,

Cardiff

CF15 7QZ

E-mail: shared.services@wales.nhs.uk

Northern Ireland

Corporate Services Department

HSC Business Services Organisation

2 Franklin Street

Belfast

BT2 8DQ

Tel: 028 9032 4431

Website: http://www.hscbusiness.hscni.net/

Email Foi.bso@hscni.net

FOI Disclosure log http://www.hscbusiness.hscni.net/information/2107.htm

Question 2

Approvals by year

A copy of the information is attached. The figures are correct as of 21 December 2022. These figures may differ to information held by the approving organisations due to processing timing and other factors. The data provided is based on S2s issued by NHSBSA for planned treatment. Applications for planned treatment are received and approved by NHS England and the devolved health authorities and then sent to NHSBSA to be issued. The S2 figures also include its predecessor, the E112 certificate. They do not include S2s issued for giving birth abroad.

Breakdown of Treatment Category

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority. Information held on an S2 record are not broadly categorised as described in your request, and to categorise these would involve complex judgment by someone with clinical expertise. This would involve creating new information, as it would involve creating a new categorising system from scratch. The approving organisation may hold categories, you can contact them as outlined above.

Question 3

A copy of the information is attached. This includes claims for both planned treatment and giving birth abroad.

Claims are made in the local currency of the country. Amounts here have been converted to GBP using a 2022 exchange rate for convenience.

The contestation deadlines for some claims (2020 onwards) have not yet lapsed. This may result in final figures updating when these are resolved.

Question 4

A copy of the information is attached. The contestation deadlines for some claims (2020 onwards) have not yet lapsed. This may result in final figures updating when these are resolved.

This includes claims for both planned treatment and giving birth abroad.

Data Queries

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

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. 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 2022” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

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

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.