Is health insurance required to return to visit England from France?

Article updated December 10, 2025 in line with most recent UK regulations

Reader question: Do you have any advice as to healthcare for when I return to visit friends and family in England? Being a non-UK resident I think I am not entitled to NHS cover.

Some people who do not have their primary residence in the UK are not eligible for free NHS care, however, under the latest rules, this often is not an issue for people living in EU countries such as France. 

Firstly, it is possible to sign up to a GP surgery as a ‘temporary patient’ on return trips lasting from one day to three months, and GP services, as well as others deemed ‘primary care’, are free to all.

In theory, GP surgeries should allow you to complete a form to do this and your request cannot be rejected, although it may be difficult to find a GP to take you on short notice for a very brief trip. 

However, even if you are not their ‘temporary patient’, they should still not refuse emergency treatment for a period of up to 14 days. 

Other ‘primary care’ services such as A+E are free at the point of use to anyone who needs them, although follow-up hospital treatment may be billed for. 

In all cases, urgent medical cases are always treated, with payment, if required, being arranged later.

Certain groups, such as ex-diplomats and UK war pension recipients can also continue to use all NHS services free of charge after moving abroad.

Residents in France who belong to the French Assurance Maladie and are not covered for healthcare by the UK or another EU state under an S1 form, can apply for a carte européenne d'assurance maladie (Ceam) health card, that covers essential medical costs in several European countries including the UK at the same rates as for a resident (ie. free of charge in the UK). 

The situation is different if you have a UK S1, as you are only entitled to an ‘Ehic’ or ‘Ghic’, the British variants. These cards cannot be used in the UK, however, but only abroad in other EU countries. 

If you were a resident of France or elsewhere in the EU before December 31, 2020 and are thus a Withdrawal Agreement (WA) beneficiary and have a registered S1 form, you do not have to pay for any NHS treatment, including that not considered ‘primary’ care, on presentation of a copy of the S1, if proof is asked for.

After Brexit, this was initially note extended to those who are more recent arrivals in France with UK S1 forms, who were advised rather to apply for travel insurance which includes medical coverage, on the basis of being a visitor to the UK. 

However, in more recent regulations the UK has agreed that any holder of a UK S1 form may now access healthcare in England on the same basis as UK residents, so the distinction between forms issued to WA holders or more those who left the UK more recently no longer applies in England.