Help with Travel costs

You may be able to claim a refund of the cost of travelling to hospital under the ‘Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme’ (HTCS) or other NHS premises for NHS-funded treatment or diagnostic test arranged by a doctor or dentist.

This page summarises the scheme, but if you would like more information please visit the Cashiers Office (see below) or the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.

Who can claim?

To qualify for help with travel costs under the HTCS, you must meet three conditions:

    1. At the time of your appointment, you or your partner (including civil partners) must be receiving one of the qualifying benefits or allowances, or meet the eligibility criteria of the NHS Low Income Scheme.
    2. Your journey must be made to receive NHS-funded non-primary medical or non-primary dental care services. You must have been referred to by a GP, dentist or hospital consultant.
    3. For referrals made by a GP or dentist, the service must be provided on a different day and in premises other than those occupied by the GP or dentist who made the referral.
    • You can claim travel costs for your children if 2 or 3 above applies to them and you are in group 1 above at the time of the appointment. Any young person aged 16 or over may make their own Low Income Scheme claim.
    • You can claim travel costs for an escort (such as an adult or your dependent child) if your doctor, dentist or consultant says that for medical reasons you need someone to travel with you.

You cannot claim help with travel costs, if:

      • you are visiting someone in hospital. However, visitors in receipt of one of the qualifying benefits may be able to receive assistance in the form of a Social Fund payment. Further information about this assistance can be obtained from Jobcentre Plus office.
      • you are visiting your local GP or dentist for routine primary care services, such as check-ups, vaccinations, cervical cancer screening or minor surgery, as these are excluded from the scheme. Urgent primary care services during the out of hour periods (i.e. between 6.30pm and 8.00pm weekdays, at weekends or on bank holidays) are also excluded.

NHS Low Income Scheme

If you are looking for information about the NHS Low Income Scheme:

How You Travel

By Car: We pay fixed rates of reimbursement within a certain radius and then by mileage. A refund on the car parking receipt is given.  Please note that if you are not eligible for reimbursement of travel costs you may still be eligible for discounted car parking. Please refer to the car parking page for more details.

By Public Transport: Upon production of tickets, the costs of fares associated with travelling to Hospital will be refunded. In instances where a child is the patient, we will pay for the fares of the child and one adult to accompany them only. We are unable to reimburse the fares of additional adults or children.

By Taxi: Taxi fares are only claimable provided that the patient holds a GP letter stating that they are medically unable to travel by public transport. Without such a letter, reimbursement will be made at the car allowance rate.

Claiming Your Travelling Expenses

Claims can be made from the Cashiers Office. See below for the locations of these.

Before we can process your claim we need to see the following:

      • Proof of eligible benefit
      • Appointment card
      • Receipts (as applicable)

If you do not have a benefit book we will require a letter from the appropriate agency stating:

      • Your name and address
      • Your National Insurance number / or your certificate number
      • The benefit you are eligible for

If you contact your Jobcentre Plus they will provide this letter for you. We are unable to use your card alone. If you do not have the necessary proof with you, a postal claim may be made using an HC5 claim form. These are available from the Cashiers Office or from your local Jobcentre Plus.

Cashiers Office – Location and Times

The Cashiers Office can help with the following:

  • Reimbursement of travel expenses for eligible patients attending appointments
  • Accepting donations for SATH charitable funds
  • Accepting payments for hearing aids/courses and invoices
  • Petty cash requests
  • Valuables lost property
  • Safe keeping of patients valuables property during inpatient stays

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Cashiers Office

      • Location: Enter the hospital through the Outpatient entrance, turn left, the cashiers office is on the left after the League of Friends shop.

Opening hours
Monday – Friday: 9.30am – 4.30pm

Princess Royal Hospital Cashiers Office

      • Location: Enter the hospital through the Outpatient entrance, walk through the waiting area, the cashiers office is on the right before the main hospital corridor.

Opening hours:
Monday – Friday: 9.30am – 4.30pm

The information on this page about help with hospital travel costs is from the the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme page and is correct at the time of publication. Please note that details of these schemes may change. Please talk to the Cashiers Office or refer to the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme page on nhs.uk for the latest information about this scheme.