You may be entitled to help with necessary travel costs to and from hospital if you receive NHS treatment under the care of a consultant and have a low income or receive certain benefits or credits.
For more details download the NHS Scotland leaflet HCS1 – A quick guide to help with health costs. Or you can call the NHS Helpline on 0800 224488 (Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm).
For help to plan your travel to the hospital please call Traveline on 0141 465 1878 or visit: www.travelinescotland.com
Travel Costs
Patients can claim their travel costs if they receive, Income support, Universal Credit, Income related Employment & Support Allowance, Income based Jobseekers Allowance, Guaranteed Pension Credit, named on a valid NHS Tax Credit Exemption Certificate, named on a valid NHS Exemption Certificate (HC2) or Asylum Registration Card.
Claiming travel costs
- Patients must bring proof of entitlement dated within 3 months of the appointment, (or most recent appropriate letter)
- The tickets for all your journeys will be required as evidence
- We can reimburse a mileage rate for patients using their car
- In some cases the travelling costs of an escort can be claimed
- We will not reimburse taxi fares
- Only the cheapest form of transport can be paid
- All patients travelling from the Highlands & Islands are entitled to claim some or all of their travel costs.
How to Claim Travel Expenses – Asylum Seekers
A leaflet has been produced for Asylum Seekers which explains how to claim travel expenses to and from hospital. One side of the leaflet contains translated information for the patient, the other has information in English for the Cashier’s Office. An English version of the whole leaflet is listed below for information.
Printed versions are also available at Cashier’s offices.
- Arabic
- Amharic
- English
- Farsi
- French
- Kurdish Sorani
- Lingala
- Mandarin
- Oromo
- Pashto
- Somali
- Swahili
- Tigrinya
- Urdu
- Vietnamese
- Yoruba
Further information
- If you are an inpatients, please ask your nurse for further information
- If you are an outpatients, please ask staff for further information or directions to the cash office.