# The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2008, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Scotland) Regulations 1989 (“the principal Regulations”), which provide for the making and recovery of charges in respect of certain services provided under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 to certain persons not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom.
Regulation 2(1) inserts definitions of “oral health assessments and dental examinations” and “eye examinations and sight tests” into the principal Regulations. It also amends the definition of “services forming part of the health service” to limit the supply of ophthalmic and dental services within this definition to sight tests, eye examinations, dental examinations and oral health assessments. Definitions which are no longer necessary, as a result of the removal of general dental services, general ophthalmic services and personal dental services from the definition of services forming part of the health service, are removed. Regulations 2(2) and 2(3) make consequential textual amendments.
Regulation 2(4) amends regulation 4(1) of the principal Regulations to meet the United Kingdom’s obligations in relation to medical treatment under the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking.
The effect of this amendment is to extend the exemption from charges set out in regulation 4 of the principal Regulations to overseas visitors who the United Kingdom authorities have reasonable grounds to believe are victims within the meaning of Article 4 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking (this exemption is limited to the recovery and reflection period recognised in Article 13 of the Convention) and to those who have been identified as victims.
Regulation 2(5)(a) and (b) make consequential amendments needed following the changes made by Regulation 2(2).
Article 4(s)(ii) of the Functions of Health Boards (Scotland) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/570). As amended by article 2(5) of the Functions of Health Boards (Scotland) Amendment Order 2006 (S.S.I. 2006/132), confers on Health Boards the powers of the Scottish ministers to determine the charges imposed by the principal Regulations.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2008/290/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-charges-to-overseas-visitors-scotland-amendment-regulations-2008/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.