The National Health Service (NHS)
The NHS is in charge of healthcare in the UK. The Department of Health centrally governs the NHS. Originally it consisted of one national organisation, which covered the whole of the country, but more recently, it has been decentralised into four independent organisations; one for each of the countries, which make up the United Kingdom. Each service has its own legislation, but each service will treat the needs of citizens from other parts of the UK.

Care trusts in charge of treatment policies, vaccination programmes and healthcare budgets run the NHS service.

The NHS is a free service to all residents of the UK, including members of the armed forces who are working abroad. British citizens who reside outside of the UK are subject to charges regardless of whether they have paid National Insurance contributions. The service is financed from mandatory national insurance taxation paid by employees directly from their salaries and supplemented by an obligatory contribution form employers. Self-employed persons have to pay the full contribution themselves. The onus is on the employer to deduct contributions from its employee’s wages. Dependant family members and vulnerable groups like the unemployed are exempt from contributions.

Private Healthcare
The UK has a relatively strong private healthcare sector, which is funded largely by private insurance contributions, but it is used only by a limited percentage of people, often as a top up to the basic state healthcare.