Visitors to pay for A&E treatment

Tuesday, 31 March 2026 10:35

Visitors to Jersey will no longer receive free emergency hospital care if they are from somewhere that wouldn't treat a Jersey resident without charge.

The Health Minister says their travel insurance should pay, not the public purse.

Tom Binet has changed the rules on access to free healthcare.

From 13 April 2026, visitors to Jersey will no longer receive free emergency hospital care unless a reciprocal health agreement is in place.

It doesn't affect people from the UK, France or Portugal, which have reciprocal health agreements that ensure that islanders also receive free emergency care when visiting those countries.

Separately, people here on a work permit who have had to go to A&E will receive free ongoing care.

Deputy Binet said: “As healthcare costs continue to rise faster than inflation, we must ensure that we make best use of the fixed resources we have, as well as treating people fairly.

"This includes recognising that work permit holders are actively contributing to the Island’s economy for all our benefits, whilst making it clear that visitors from countries without a reciprocal health agreement should have travel insurance.

“Our current policy of providing free emergency care to all visitors means that, even when they have travel insurance, they can’t claim on that insurance for the emergency care provided because our policy is it’s free – so it is funded by the public instead of travel insurers.

“In making these changes, we won’t leave people at risk. Our first course of action will always be to provide the emergency care people need.

"A ‘provide and then charge’ approach, not ‘charge and then provide’.”

The announcement comes as the Minister has also brought in a £502-a-day bed-blocking free for patients who refuse to leave hospital when they have been declared fit to be discharged.