Facts: the appellants sought a judicial review of the immigration sanction regime for those seeking leave to enter or remain in the UK who had unpaid NHS debts, on the basis that disclosure of information relating to their unpaid NHS debts, by the NHS to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, breached their right to confidentiality, and under Article 8 ECHR, and was not an action that the NHS had power to undertake.

Judgment: the Court of Appeal (Lord Dyson MR, Briggs and Bean LJJ) held that the information provided was inherently private but that overseas patients were informed at the outset that, if they failed to pay, the information might be passed to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, so they could not have any reasonable expectation that the information would not be used in this way. Provision of the information was lawful at common law and proportionate under the ECHR. The Secretaries of State had power to obtain and transmit the information to each other, under section 2 of the NHSA 2006, and in order to facilitate the discharge of the function under section 2.

Comment: there is an outstanding appeal to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the government has published additional guidance called Overseas chargeable patients, NHS debit and immigration rules: Guidance on administration and data sharing.1https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/507694/Overseas_chargeable_patients_2016.pdf