Use NHS 111 first. It runs every hour of every Sunday, it is free to everyone regardless of where you live, and it is the only door that can open the others: a weekend GP appointment, an arrival time at an urgent treatment centre, an emergency supply of a medicine you have run out of, or an emergency dentist. Going straight to a hospital on a Sunday usually means a longer wait, not a shorter one.
The reason Sunday feels different is that one layer of the system is shut. GP surgeries in England close at the weekend, and so do most of the pharmacies. What stays open is the urgent tier: 111, urgent treatment centres, a rota of pharmacies, and A&E departments, which never close. The rest of London's Sunday, from the markets to the timetables, is covered in our guide to a Sunday in London.
This page is about the mechanics of a Sunday specifically. For the broader picture of who treats what, read healthcare for visitors, and for minor illness on any day of the week, pharmacies and minor illness in London.
Open on a Sunday, and what it costs a visitor
- NHS 111
- 24 hours, online at 111.nhs.uk and in the NHS App, or by telephone. Free to everyone: the charging rules name the 111 advice line as an exempt service
- A&E
- Open 24 hours, every day. Free to all overseas visitors, including at a walk-in centre, minor injuries unit or urgent care centre
- Urgent treatment centres
- Open at weekends. No need to be registered with a GP or to have a fixed address
- GP out of hours
- An evening and weekend GP can be arranged through 111. GP and nurse consultations are free of charge to everyone
- Pharmacies
- Some open. Find one through the NHS pharmacy finder
- What you do pay
- £9.90 per prescription item, and, if you are admitted to hospital, 150 per cent of the cost of the treatment unless you are exempt
Why 111 first, and not the hospital down the road
NHS 111 is a triage service that ends with an instruction. It will tell you to call 999, to go to A&E, to go to an urgent treatment centre, to see a weekend GP, to wait for a nurse to ring you back, to see a pharmacist, or to look after yourself at home. Those are the seven possible answers and one of them is yours.
There are two ways in and they are not the same. 111 online, through the website or the NHS App, is for anyone aged five or over and works from any browser, which matters if your phone cannot dial a UK three-digit number. Ring 111 instead if the patient is a child under five, if the problem is a complication of an existing condition, or if there is a care plan involved.
The practical advantage of starting online is not the advice. It is that 111 online can often book you an appointment or an arrival time at an urgent treatment centre, so the centre knows you are coming, has your details, and does not make you fill in a self-assessment screen at the door. On a busy Sunday afternoon that is the difference between two hours and five.
A 111 callback is slowest on exactly the day you are reading this. The NHS says the nurse callback queue is usually busier at weekends and on bank holidays, and that the sickest people are rung first. You cannot request a callback and you cannot speed it up; if your symptoms get worse while you wait, use 111 again or call 999.
Urgent treatment centres are the answer most visitors need
An urgent treatment centre deals with the things people go to A&E for and should not. The NHS lists them plainly: sprains and strains, suspected broken bones, cuts, bruises and other injuries, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, skin infections and rashes, a high temperature in a child or an adult, mental health concerns and emergency contraception. They can do an X-ray, blood tests or an ECG, and they can arrange a prescription afterwards.
Two conditions the NHS explicitly waives matter more to a visitor than anything else on this page: registration with a GP, and a permanent address. Neither is required at a UTC. A hotel is fine, and so is a hostel.
Take your own medicines or your prescription with you if you have them. You do not need to know an NHS number, and you will not have one. Interpreters, including British Sign Language, are available on request at reception, and you should ask rather than struggle.
When it has to be A&E, and how to behave there
A&E exists for life-threatening emergencies and serious injury, it never closes, and no overseas visitor pays for it. Do not drive yourself: the NHS says to ask someone else to drive, or to call 999 for an ambulance. The numbers to have on your phone before any of this happens are in our page on emergency numbers.
Once inside you will register, then wait for triage, which is an assessment by a doctor or nurse that decides the order people are seen in. Arriving by ambulance does not move you up that order. If 111 has told the hospital you are coming, you skip the self-assessment screen at the entrance.
Central London examples, to show what the shape looks like. The emergency department at St Thomas' Hospital, across the bridge from Parliament, is a walk-in service with no appointment needed, and children go to the separate children's emergency department at Evelina London on the same site. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital runs an A&E and an urgent care centre side by side: critical cases go to A&E and sprains, broken bones, bites, stings and wounds go to the urgent care centre, which is the sorting a visitor cannot do from outside. Let 111 decide which building, rather than choosing the nearest name on a map.
What a visitor actually pays, in one paragraph
Government guidance is specific, and the good news comes first. Nobody is charged for a consultation with a GP or a practice nurse, or for treatment a GP provides, whether they register as an NHS patient or are taken on as a temporary one, and you qualify as temporary if you are in the area for over a day and under three months. Accident and emergency services are likewise free to every overseas visitor, and the government's list of them covers walk-in centres, minor injuries units and urgent care centres as well as hospital A&E. So is the 111 advice line.
The charge begins if you are admitted. Overseas visitors are charged 150 per cent of the cost of NHS treatment unless they are exempt, most hospitals have an overseas visitors manager who makes that assessment, and follow-up outpatient appointments are chargeable too. Treatment that is immediately necessary or urgent is given first and billed afterwards, so nobody is turned away at the door. This is the reason to have a policy before you fly, and our page on travel insurance and healthcare cover sets out how the reciprocal agreements interact with it.
Medicines on a Sunday, and the trick most people miss
Some pharmacies open on Sundays, more of them in central London than in the suburbs, and a few open very late. Which ones changes, so the only reliable method is the NHS pharmacy finder on nhs.uk, filtered for today. Shop-bought medicines are on sale in supermarkets and convenience shops all day, within the quantity limits British shops apply.
The trick is for people who have run out of something they take regularly. 111 online can arrange an emergency supply of a regularly prescribed medicine, at any age. It writes no prescription of its own: it asks a pharmacy near you to hand over a limited quantity, enough to bridge the gap. Doing that at 10am on a Sunday is far better than presenting an empty box at a counter and hoping. What you should have brought with you in the first place, and the rules on what you may bring, are in bringing medicines to Britain.
If you do get an NHS prescription, the charge in England is £9.90 for each item, not for each prescription, according to nhs.uk in September 2026. Three medicines on one piece of paper means three charges. Some items, including contraception, are always free.
Toothache on a Sunday is the hardest problem on this page. 111 online can help with dental problems and may find an emergency dentist "if there is availability in your area", which is the NHS's own careful wording. There is no walk-in dental equivalent of A&E for a visitor, and a hospital emergency department will usually only manage the pain.
The things a Sunday cannot give you
111 online cannot issue a fit note, and it cannot make or cancel appointments elsewhere in the NHS. Nor can it tell your insurer anything: that is your job, and most policies want to be told promptly. Routine matters wait until Monday, and so does anything needing a specialist referral.
Your hotel's front desk will often offer to call a private doctor. That is a real service and it is quick, but it is private medicine at private prices, and it is not what the NHS route costs. Ask what the fee is before agreeing, and know that you can do the free thing instead.
Bank holiday Mondays behave exactly like Sundays for health services, which is set out in our page on a London bank holiday Monday, and the broader list of what closes is in bank holidays and opening hours. If you are pregnant, the weekend picture and the maternity route are different again, and visiting London while pregnant covers it. For a small child, the rule is simply that you telephone 111 rather than using the website, and London with a baby has the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Can a tourist use NHS 111 in England?
Yes, and it costs nothing. Government guidance on charges to overseas visitors lists services provided as part of the NHS 111 telephone advice line among those that are free irrespective of where you normally live. 111 online works in any browser if you cannot dial a three-digit UK number.
Are GP surgeries open on Sundays in London?
Ordinary surgeries are closed at weekends. An evening and weekend GP appointment can be arranged through NHS 111, which is the out-of-hours route, and the consultation itself is free of charge to everyone, including visitors, whether you are registered or seen as a temporary patient.
Do I have to pay for A&E in London as a foreign visitor?
No. Emergency care carries no charge for overseas visitors, and the exemption extends to walk-in centres, minor injuries units and urgent care centres. Money enters the picture once you are admitted to a ward or attend a follow-up outpatient appointment, where overseas visitors pay 150 per cent of the cost unless they are exempt.
How do I find a pharmacy open on a Sunday in London?
Use the pharmacy finder on nhs.uk and check today's hours rather than the general opening times, because Sunday hours differ from weekday ones and the pharmacies that open change. Central London has more Sunday and late openings than the outer boroughs.
What if I have run out of my own prescription medicine?
Use 111 online, which can ask a pharmacy near you to release an emergency supply of a medicine you take regularly, whatever your age. No prescription is written: the pharmacy hands over a limited quantity to bridge the gap until your usual repeat can be arranged.
Sources
- NHS - When to use NHS 111 online or call 111, including emergency prescriptions and dental problems (checked September 2026)
- NHS - When to go to an urgent treatment centre (checked September 2026)
- NHS - When to go to A&E (checked September 2026)
- NHS - NHS prescription charges (checked September 2026)
- NHS - Pharmacies and the pharmacy finder (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - NHS entitlements: migrant health guide, free services and charges to overseas visitors (checked September 2026)
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust - emergency department at St Thomas' Hospital (checked September 2026)
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - A&E and urgent care centre (checked September 2026)