The Statutory Rule published on legislation.gov.uk makes a narrow but immediate amendment to Northern Ireland's visitor charging regime for health services. The Provision of Health Services to Persons Not Ordinarily Resident (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 were made on 19 June 2026 by the Department of Health, acting with the Department of Finance, and came into operation the same day. In practical terms, the amendment adds hantavirus diseases to the list of conditions for which no charge may be made for treatment provided to a visitor in Northern Ireland, subject to an existing exception in the charging rules.
The legal change is made through Schedule 1 to the Provision of Health Services to Persons Not Ordinarily Resident Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. The new entry is inserted after haemolytic uraemic syndrome and covers hantavirus diseases, including hantavirus pulmonary or cardiopulmonary syndrome and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. That matters because Schedule 1 is the disease list used by Regulation 4(1)(d) of the 2015 Regulations. Where a disease appears on that schedule, treatment connected with that disease must not be charged for under the ordinary visitor charging rules.
According to the Explanatory Note, the effect is straightforward. A visitor receiving hospital treatment in Northern Ireland for a hantavirus disease is exempt from charges for any Health Service treatment provided in respect of that disease. The amendment does not create a wider exemption from charges for all treatment a visitor may receive. It applies to care delivered in respect of the listed disease and sits within the existing charging system rather than replacing it.
The exemption is not without limits. The legislation keeps the existing safeguard that applies where it appears a person has travelled to Northern Ireland specifically to receive treatment. In those cases, the disease-based exemption does not apply in the normal way, and the charging position remains governed by the exception already built into the 2015 Regulations. For providers and charging teams, that means two questions remain central: whether the patient falls within the class of visitor covered by the regulations, and whether the relevant treatment is being provided in respect of the listed hantavirus condition rather than for an unrelated episode of care.
The broader scheme, as set out in the Explanatory Note, is otherwise unchanged. The 2015 Regulations allow the Department of Health to charge visitors for certain health services, while also preserving a set of exemptions. Some services are always exempt, some categories of visitor are exempt, and some diseases are exempt through Schedule 1. This amendment sits in that last category. It is a targeted addition to the disease list, not a wider change to residence tests, entitlement rules or the general basis on which Northern Ireland recovers charges from persons who are not ordinarily resident.
The administrative effect is immediate because the rule was both made and commenced on 19 June 2026. Hospitals and finance teams therefore need to apply the revised Schedule 1 from that date when assessing whether charges can be made or recovered for treatment linked to hantavirus disease. For patients and advisers, the plain-English position is narrow but important: treatment in Northern Ireland for hantavirus disease has been added to the no-charge list, unless there is evidence that the person travelled there specifically for that treatment. The wording on legislation.gov.uk leaves the rest of the 2015 charging regime intact.