LONDON — EU nationals living in the U.K. may have been wrongly charged for National Health Service treatment, according to the U.K.’s watchdog on EU citizens’ rights post-Brexit.
The Independent Monitoring Authority said Wednesday it has identified several cases of NHS bodies that may have unfairly charged EU citizens to use the service while their application to the EU Settlement Scheme was still being reviewed by the U.K.’s Home Office. The EU Settlement Scheme aims to guarantee EU nationals’ residence rights in the U.K. after Brexit, which put an end to the free movement of people between the U.K. and the bloc.
Most NHS care is free at the point of use for people deemed “ordinarily resident” in the U.K., with charges applying to overseas visitors. The issue raised by the IMA appears to have affected EU nationals whose applications were rejected later on, the watchdog said.
The IMA, set up to guard EU nationals’ rights in Britain and British nationals’ rights in the EU, said it considers this a breach of the Brexit divorce deal. It is working with the U.K. government and the devolved governments outside of England to find out how many patients may have been affected and how they will be reimbursed.
“We have identified an issue that has the potential to affect many citizens and we are engaging with the relevant authorities to rectify it,” said Pam Everett, IMA director of operational delivery.
“We appreciate that it will take some time to gather information on the size and scale of the potential problem due to the localized nature of NHS bodies,” she added.
The watchdog did say, however, that the Scottish government had confirmed there had been no instances of wrongful charging in Scotland.