health tourists./foreign influx weighs down NHS

i am on an income level whereby i receive some council tax releif, but not eligable for income support, and thus i have to pay for my prescriptions, yet here i see visitors to the country are getting wonderful hospital care, without the nhs scrupulously checking eligability to free treatment.........is this why i have to pay for my prescriptions??.........

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7379891.stm

Health tourist checks 'not done'
By Phil Kemp
BBC News

Health tourists can cost the NHS huge sums


About a third of hospitals in England and Wales are ignoring government advice to charge foreign visitors for NHS treatment.

Guidance published in 2004 stipulates hospitals should check whether foreign nationals are entitled to free care.

But a third of overseas visitor managers polled by their association admitted patients were not routinely asked about their entitlement.

The Department of Health said those not entitled to free care should pay.
A lot of my friends, they are in the UK and they tell me if I come there, I will get the best treatment
Tunde


Tunde, not his real name, lives in Lagos in Nigeria and has been suffering with heart trouble for the past three years.

But, instead of paying for treatment at home, he travels to the UK for free care on the NHS.

\"I have an NHS card. I registered it through the GP. I book an appointment with a GP and I am referred to the hospital,\" he said.

Tunde has been making the trip as a health tourist twice a year for the last three years and says that he will continue doing it until he is better.

\"A lot of my friends, they are in the UK and they tell me if I come there I will get the best treatment.\"

For most non-EU nationals, treatment on the NHS which is not urgently necessary is chargeable.

Staff uncomfortable
'HEALTH TOURIST' BILLS
Delivery of premature baby needing intensive neonatal care. Hospital says it has exhausted all attempts to recover the debt: £208,259
Female patient spent four months in intensive care unit before she died. Her son says he doesn't have the means to pay her debt: £206,368
Cardiology patient who absconded from hospital after he was identified as a non-UK resident: £13,819


The government was so concerned about reports of foreign nationals receiving free treatment when they should be paying that it introduced tough new guidelines in 2004, designed to ensure that all hospitals checked the status of patients being admitted.

But, four years on, the Donal MacIntyre programme on Radio 5 Live has learned the rules are widely ignored.

Some overseas visitor managers in hospitals told the BBC that they found the guidelines confusing and described how some staff are uncomfortable checking patients' immigration status.

One told the programme: \"Staff are anxious of possible abuse not only by overseas visitors but also from people who feel it is unjust to be asked.\"

A confidential report for the Department of Health released under the Freedom of Information Act last year estimated that £30m was lost in un-recovered debts from foreign visitors in 2004.

Huge costs

The BBC has learned that one hospital spent £208,000 on the delivery of a premature baby needing intensive neo-natal care last year.

The Trust said it has now exhausted all attempts to recover the debt, so that money will now be lost.

The Department of Health is currently reviewing access to primary and secondary care for all foreign nationals and several hospitals are running pilot schemes where patients who are not eligible for free treatment have to pay at their bedside.

Andy Finlay is the income generation manager at West Middlesex University Hospital, which is one of the hospitals involved in the scheme.

He explained that one particularly blatant example of a health tourist prompted their involvement.

\"He said 'you have to treat me until I'm well and I'm not paying and there's nothing you can do about it'.

\"He came with a pre-existing heart condition and he knew it's free at the point of delivery in the UK. He abused us - he was a 100% bona fide health tourist.\"

Patients leave

Since introducing their new policy, 20% of all patients admitted to A&E self-discharge before they are asked to pay for treatment, whereas before no patients left of their own accord.

The hospital says they now recover 75% of debt from foreign visitors paying all fees, a much higher proportion that most other hospitals.

Andy Finlay is hoping that the Department of Health will extend his idea across all hospitals.

In a statement, the Department of Health said: \"It important that those who are not entitled to NHS services pay for any they receive.

\"The government is currently reviewing access to primary and secondary care for all foreign nationals.\"

xx suzan xx<br><br>Post edited by: suzan, at: 2008/09/11 11:46

Well done Suzan for bringing it to our attention.....Yet another reason why people are so discusted with this Lie-filled,expenses-fiddling,ego-loving Labour gits.....They have been in power for over 11 years,,highest taxes ever paid,imigration out of control,at War on two fronts (costing in excess of £40 per month)...now NHS abvused like never before xxxx:evil:

And TAXES Tony, you forgot TAXES

pp xx

a bit from that article above:

\&quot;A confidential report for the Department of Health released under the Freedom of Information Act last year estimated that £30m was lost in un-recovered debts from foreign visitors in 2004.\&quot;

those figures are from 2004.!!! wonder wot they are now????!!!

and why are these figures confidential ????

i may be sick....but stuff like this makes me SICKER..!!...:evil:

xx suzan xx

I doubt they have any idea Suzan...They only guess how many illegals are in the country...How can you count an uncontrolled Flood xxxxx:evil:

Cardiff send home women who was getting life saving cancer treatment, women dies three weeks later. Youth who has been shot nine times refused treatment because the injuries did not happen here he is now dying. how cheap we take life these days.

uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080911/tuk-f...own-nhs-45dbed5.html

The NHS is having to cope with the large influx of foreign migrants without extra funding, Sky News has learned.

Despite foreign workers paying tax on the income they earn, the money has not been used to boost public services in the areas with the greatest migration.

An estimated 20,000 migrants have moved to Peterborough in the last four years to work. That is a 15% rise in the city's population.

Many of them have come from countries that have recently joined the European Union. They are entitled to free NHS care.

Almost 200 babies are year a born to Eastern European mothers at the hospital.

And GPs complain that consultations involving a telephone translator take two or even three times longer than normal.

Local MP Stewart Jackson said funding for local NHS services is based on the headcount in the 2001 census, before the surge in economic migrants.

\&quot;We need fair funding for places like Peterborough, which is expected to deliver 21st Century healthcare to everyone who asks for it.\&quot;

The local primary care trust has channelled more money into maternity care to help the hospital cope with the extra births.

But plans to revamp GP surgeries have been put on hold.

And infertile couples will have to wait until next year to get the three attempts at IVF that they're supposed to have.

\&quot;Because we have an integrated health and social care system here we have made savings in areas not possible in other PCTs. That has enabled us to free up resources, and target those resources at areas of greatest need.\&quot;

Iwona Chodzicka says the Polish community has been unfairly blamed for the Government's failure to spend the tax they pay on extra public services.

\&quot;They do contribute to the economy like everyone else. Everybody should be entitled to healthcare if they work here and pay their taxes,\&quot; she said.

There are complex rules on the entitlement of foreigners to NHS care.

Free treatment is given to those from countries that are in the European Union, and countries that have reciprocal healthcare agreements with Britain.

Refugees and asylum seekers are also entitled to free NHS care.

But illegal immigrants and health tourists who specifically come to Britain for treatment have to pay - unless it is treatment for an emergency, or for sexually transmitted or infectious diseases that might put the rest of the population at risk.

Not all debts are collected. Sky News has established under the Freedom of Information Act that the Department of Health had to write off more than £5m in treatment costs last year for patients who should have paid, but could not or would not.

At University College Hospital in London Dr Maggie Blott encounters 44 languages on the maternity ward.

But she says it is not up to her to check whether women are entitled to free NHS treatment.

\&quot;I have a duty of care to my patients,\&quot; she said.

\&quot;When a woman presents in labour she is an emergency and is entitled to care. There are processes that work very well within the hospital to recoup costs of women who are not entitled to care.\&quot;

A recent High Court ruling has caused further confusion within the NHS over who is entitled to free care.

It means failed asylum seekers must be given free care until they are deported.

Medical charity Medact estimates between 200,000 and half a million would be affected by ruling.

The Government has yet to decide whether it will appeal to the House of Lords.



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Local MP Stewart Jackson said funding for local NHS services is based on the headcount in the 2001 census, before the surge in economic migrants.

oh yes this seems right...thanks Gordon et al for really caring about us all !!!!!!!

Its no wonder the NHS has become a bottomless Pit for taxpayers cash.....Even the Doctors shirk responsibilities with comments like...Its not up to me to check...If some illegal from what TB or Aids or Plague, God-Forsaken Hole, decides to take the Michael out of All of Us and get thousands of pounds worth of Free Attention...For which they have paid..NOTHING...
My question to the doctor...Whos wages US Taxpayers Pay.....In which case..WHO Is ?????
There is no doubt in my mind that we will see the abolition of the NHS and the return to Private treatment.....Not due to the people it was set-up for...But the SCOUNGERS....or Thieves as I prefer to call them....<br><br>Post edited by: tonypark, at: 2008/09/11 14:09

sadly I agree the NHS will slowly fade out..when it was first set up it was a UK NHS. now it's a WORLD WIDE NHS

I agree when my granddaughter was on holiday abroad and became unwell,my son had to prove he could pay before they would treat her. We are too soft in this country.

And now a quick word from an \&quot;illegal immigrant\&quot;
(Yep, came over to UK in 1955 and sorta stayed, but still not a British Citizen, legally)

I have to pay for any NHS or other, treatment. Or I don't get it! And that INCLUDES emergency treatment.

blimey posh....since 1955??.........thats really awful for you.

yes...and you have worked and paid taxes here, i believe?......AND THOSE TAXES HAVE NOT BEEN PUT INTO THE NHS...

when someone is contributing to our society and country, why should they not be entitled to free health care?????............the government dont want to put the taxes there thats why!!



government is seriously flawed , and seems it has been for many years....




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now another thought.....many workers here from outside the EU...changes to visa regs coming in....many those workers now not entitled to renew.............many jobs done by workers of EU,eastern...they also sending money to their families back home....BUT the pound is low and the euro is strong..now many can earn good money back in their country!!...so will seee an outflux of workers back to their member country............leaving us in a situation with many jobs vacancies...and we know that these are jobs many of which are in the low paid caring industries......:blink: :blink: burble burble:blink: