Explains your rights to social care, and how this differs from healthcare. Includes information on eligibility, needs assessments, financial assessments, and how local authorities may meet your needs.
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Healthcare means the services provided to you to maintain and improve your health. This involves preventing, diagnosing and treating mental and physical illnesses, diseases and injuries.
Healthcare provided by the NHS is free at the point of delivery to UK residents, apart from certain things, such as dental care and eye tests. In Wales prescriptions are also free. In England perscriptions are free for some, but others have to pay for them. If you live in England it's worth checking on the NHS website to see if you're entitled to free prescriptions.
Healthcare is provided by the NHS or by private providers. This includes:
The NHS is divided into three different types of healthcare:
Healthcare can be provided in various locations, for example:
(See our pages on seeking help for a mental health problem for information on how to access healthcare.)
This information was published in February 2018. We will revise it in 2020.
References are available on request. If you would like to reproduce any of this information, see our page on permissions and licensing.