charges for NHS 'health tourists' in England

NHS hospitals in England will have a legal duty to charge
overseas patients upfront for non-urgent care if they are 
not eligible for free treatment.

From April this year, so-called health tourists could be 
refused operations unless they cover their costs in 
advance.

NHS Improvement, which oversees the trusts, said
 hospitals would no longer have to chase money they
 are owed.

Emergency treatment will continue to be provided and invoiced later.

The announcement from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt comes amid recent headlines about the cost of tourists 
using the NHS.

A documentary, Hospital, showed a number of foreign
patients unable to pay their bills.

Hospitals are already supposed to charge patients 
living outside the European Economic Area for care such
 as hip operations or cataract removal, but this can be done
 by invoice, rather than upfront.

Details of treatment given to visitors from EEA countries should be forwarded to the Department of Health so the
 costs can be recouped from their governments.

But earlier last week, MPs on the Public Accounts 
Committee said the system for recovering costs from 
foreign visitors was "chaotic".

Mr Hunt said: "We have no problem with overseas 
visitors using our NHS - as long as they make a fair contribution, just as the British taxpayer does."

The health secretary said the aim was to recover up to 
£500m a year by the middle of this Parliament to reinvest
 in the NHS.

A report by the National Audit Office last October 
suggested that money raised next year would fall far short
 of this target.


'Largest' unpaid bill

A Nigerian woman owes £330,000 after giving birth prematurely to quadruplets in a west London hospital.

Priscilla, whose case was highlighted in the documentary
Hospital , was taken ill on a flight home from the US and ended up in St Mary's A&E, after her plane stopped over
 at Heathrow Airport.

Her bill is thought to be among the largest unpaid by an overseas patient - but she has no ability to pay it.

Priscilla would still have received urgent treatment under
 the new arrangements because her life and those of her babies - two of whom died - were at risk.

The NHS Imperial College Trust, which includes St
 Mary's, spent £4m on overseas patients in 2016 and managed to recoup £1.6m.

The changes mean that from April, foreign visitors 
needing urgent care will still be treated immediately on 
the NHS and invoiced if they are not to be eligible for 
free care.

But they will also be told upfront that their care is 
chargeable before treatment begins.

It will be up to individual trusts to work out how best to 
check eligibility. It is thought some trusts will ask overseas patients to produce two forms of identification - including 
one showing a UK address.

The doctors' union, the BMA, warned of potential "chaos 
and confusion" from the changes.

Dr Mark Porter, BMA council chairman, said: "There is no 
detail as to how upfront charging will be introduced from scratch in just three months, in an NHS already unable to 
cope with normal operations."

A UK-wide poll of just over 1,000 adults by Ipsos Mori for 
the Reports shows that 74% of respondents support increasing charges for visitors from outside the UK to 
help fund the NHS.