Foreign patients leave region's hospitals with £1m bill
Foreign patients have left the region’s hospitals with a bill of more than £1million during the past five years, new figures revealed today.
And bosses have been forced to write off thousands of pounds of debt which they have been unable to claim back.
Britain has healthcare agreements with some countries and provides free NHS care for those living in Britain regardless of nationality, but most other foreign visitors have to pay for non-emergency treatment.
But hospitals say there are often complications when trying to claim back the money and the decision to write off debt is always a last resort.
Wolverhampton’s hospital trust has been left with the highest amount of debt between 2007 and 2012. Health chiefs were owed £757,919.98 from patients from overseas and have had to write off £174,428.95. They are currently owed £486,894.51 but say £113,249.80 of this is covered by insurance.
Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, which recently announced it was heading for administration, is owed £6,283.84 from the 2012/13 year so far but nothing has been written off. A total debt of £24,568.23 has been racked up by patients from outside the EU since the 2009/10 financial year.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is owed £347,940 by patients from outside the EU and has written off £232,185 in the past five years. People who were treated in Dudley have clocked up £52,293 of debt in the past five years.
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust has written off £58,535 owed by overseas patients during this time, some of which would have been accumulated before 2007.
Stourbridge MP Margot James today said: “Hospitals should carry out checks on people’s immigration status if there is any doubt about their eligibility for treatment and, unless it is a medical emergency or a need for maternity or antenatal care, healthcare treatment should be refused.”
Russells Hall Hospital and its foreign patients policy hit the headlines in October 2011 when an illegal immigrant from Pakistan was deported after more than a year at the hospital. His care had cost the hospital more than £100,000.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust was owed £71,818.75 by patients outside the European Union during the period and has written off £48,538 of debt in the past five years.
Comments for: "Foreign patients leave region's hospitals with £1m bill"
lisa
its disgusting, before any operation these people should be made to pay up front, that or they go home for treatment,
Pete
AS I SAID IN OTHER THREADS IF THIS WASN'T HAPPENING WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY CAR PARKING AT HOSPITALS AND THE NHS WOULDN'T BE IN DIRE STRAIGHTS ! If you go abroad and visit a doctor or hospital its money up front or go away. The NHS should be for BRITISH citizens only and thats not being racist so no one jump on that band wagon !! its about protecting what British tax paying citizens payed in from when the NHS started up till now otherwise it will go. ACT NOW OR PRIVATE MEDICAL INSURANCE WILL KICK IN !! I have worked with people who have flown relatives in from other countries to have medical care/operations then gone back. WAKE UP ACT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE !!
scott
So you know 1st hand what happens and have done nothing and are also responsible for this mess.
What would you have him do,lets face it he his basically having to appologise for dare speaking up,it's a wonder you have not used the R word
scott
Perhaps you should complain to New Cross Hospital about the situation. Might have to wait 18 months before a RRReply.
Pete
Scott. How can one person do anything about this ! Its top people in the NHS and ministers who need to sort this out mate so how can I alone be responsible for this mess ? People at the top KNOW whats happening but not 1 will stand above the parapet to say nothing in case they are accused of racism and bigotry !
scott
But like you said "every little helps"
Sue
Well said Pete, wholeheartedly agree with your comments
Mike
Oh come on!
I don't think £1 million over 5 years would solve the problems of the NHS, even in this limited area. It's not even a drop in the ocean!
Scrapping a system because some people abuse it is a massive overreaction. Do you propose we scrap all benefits because some people claim fraudulently or that we ban driving altogether merely because some people drive like morons?
sports giant
Glad you don't look after the budget Mike let's forget about the odd million here and there it all adds
Pete
Mike; No £1 million isn't going to stop it but as tesco says every little helps ! The figure quoted is only what we are told. Scrapping benefits is nothing to do with it, most people are eligable for benefits, so at least weeding the one's out who aren't reduces the benefits bill and provides for the one's who are ! My opinion is provide for the one's who are entitled and charge the one's who aren't. Driving bans are enforced as the courts see fit and eventually let back on the roads when the bans are over, i.e if you work and pay your taxes and national insurances you would become eligable for NHS care.
rmpiedra
Totally agree Mike; Yet again, sensationalist headlines provoke the same old dull reactions.
I would love to know what % of the NHS budget this £1 million actually is. And, then I would love it to be compared to the % spent on those UK 'nationals' who fleece thousands off the NHS yet do not contribute a penny to the pot.
Gail
More UK residents abuse the NHS than any other nationality & do not get a bill because they don`t work is that not DISGUSTING either baecause we have to pick up their bill through tax and national insurance.
Gail what are you on about
Gail
Firstly its courtesy to give a name rather than hiding behind anon. status and second , if you worked for a living you would know, jusy woke up?
Bloater
You appear to say that like everyone on benefits has never worked.
snoddy
It is a well known fact that those accusing others of being on benefits are usually on it themselves
Gail well there is 62 million UK citizens so you would expect more,no doubt Gail is also an alias
Gail
60,000 in the midlands alone going to be hit by the bedroom tax! bet bloater and snoddy aren't aliases, more fake names to claim benefits excuses for being jobless
Martin
Pete make sure that you're right before you write something. I'm polish citizen, and resident in the UK. I have paid tax and national insurance. So, I have the same right to treatment as you. I pay for your benefits also. Think Dude, just think. It does not hurt.
snowy
Come one come all to the land of plenty unless you were born here
GAIL MILLARD
how true. when will people start saying what they mean and start sticking up for what's ours. we' brits have paid into the ni all our lives and then foreigners waltz in and get the treatment and appointments we can't get!!! i'm so angry.....
Dr Wolf
And dont forget, this Tory led coalition has done nothing to stop this abuse of the British Taxpayer.
Vote UKIP.
Angry Allan
I wonder what kind of bills are being picked up by hospitals in places like Benidorm, Zante etc due to Brits getting into (largely self-inflicted) mischiefs???
Julian Porter
Well said. When my child was treated in Spain we didn't have to pay as we belong to the EU, I am sure there are hundreds of Brits treated in Spain, so it works both ways!
You would not get treated for HIV and cancer abroad like they do in the UK
ANTHONY
well what a supprise .... when are the people who run this country going to realise that many of the people who come from other countries only come for all the benefits that are on offer ... oh lets not forget the thousands more that will be joining us from romania etc
Boisterous Barney
No offence pal, but your sweeping generalisations are way off the mark. My wife came over here from abroad, 10 years ago, off her own bat, and do you know how much she has claimed in benefits in that time? I'll tell you: A grand total of £ZERO. Do you know how many people's jobs she has stolen? ZERO. Do you know how many jobs she has created, or helped create? More than you ever will.
Pete
I take my hat off to her Barney, well done! This is the people we don't mind coming to this country who are prepared to work for a living. However this is one person in millions sorry to deflate your point!
Zodiac Speaking...
Anthony said "many of the people" not "all of the people" and to be honest he's not far wrong. Your good wife is in the minority, most do come over here for the freebies they can get. Even the government are thinking of changing the rules on claiming benefits in time for the large influx of Romanians and Bulgarians that will no doubt make a beeline for the UK in 2014.
Sandwell Lad
Unless its an Emergency all people should be asked! Forget maternity or antenatal care to as recently people have flown in, got treatment and left!
You want to help cut cost and spread of viruses etc... All EU and Non EU must have insurance (I have too), Money in the Bank to support them for the stay (I have to) and if they don't then turn away or better still get the money diverted from the Countries Aid money to the local trust... their leaders will soon put a stop to them getting treatment as they wont have the money for themselves!!!!
Trust me I've seen it happen and the NHS get abusied! Sir Winston Churchill said this would happen.
tracey
Where does this end , i am not against any nationality what so ever ,but this is a small island with a limited number of taxpayers and no jobs around for the unempolyed that live here and here we are paying bills for others . I wonder how many of us would refuse if it was a bill that come through the post , but as the government TAKE our taxes we have no bloody choice .
The problem isn't necessarily the "foreigners" as the hospital's themselves. A number of years ago my, at the time, girlfriend (American) and I were visiting my parents in the Black Country and she was taken ill and admitted to hospital. At no time were insurance details requested or pretty much any other details that would have enabled them to bill us or the insurance even though it was pretty obvious she wasn't a local!
You can let the whole world in to use the NHS if you like.imn off to New Zealand next year to live
Margaret Hamilton
Won't you be an immigrant in New Zealand then? Will you have to pay for health treatment there? What will happen if you fall ill and can't pay for your treatment?
simonDarby
I have to admit I'm rather appalled by some of the comments, it appears some posters on this article would rather we left people to die if they cannot afford their treatment, shame on you, how would you feel if it was a member of your family, typical small minded responses from small minded people, any excuse to have a pop at Johnny Foreigner.
diane
why does this not surprise me,anyone from anywhere can abuse the system,all they think is free,free,we must be the laughing stock of the world.i know many people here who work put in the system and are waiting for treatment and keep having it cancelled,you have no chance it seems these people will always come first and you will not be given a second thought,stop it now and look after your own
ren
£1M in 5 years? This is not a story folks, move on please.
sowhat
WHINGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't vote for UKIP/?/?
andy nz(ex wolf)
Sad to read all this but not suprised, my wife was a nurse in the NHS for nearlt 30 years she was under paid over worked and verbally abused, so why do you think we now live in New zealand where NZ tax payers money is spent in NZ on New zealanders and all visa carrying expats. The UK is over taxed (where does that go ?? Europe and a failing over burdened NHS) over crowded and under serviced, riuned by the politically correct do gooders who do not live in the real world. Get a grip people you are being robbed blind, its not until you leave that you realise how bad it is.
gladys
ime 80yrs old and have seen aGREATcountry go down and down its heart breaking and as my husband used to say [IME GLAD IME ON MY WAY OUT ]
Baza
After breaking my leg in Australia I could not get an ambulance to take me to hospital until I proved I had insurance
Pete
How did u feel at the time Baz ? They could have least got you to hospital first mate, However say what you like about Australia but unless you got a job, money in the bank they don't want you, if I remember correctly there was ships that broke down full of refugees in Aus and they deployed a hospital ship to the rescue but didn't let anyone off it. Did world leaders or anyone condem their government for taking that stance NO. That's their policy so like it or lump it !