Victory for Mail on Sunday as hospital ‘hit squads’ target NHS health tourists 

NHS bosses have launched a crackdown on health tourism, just weeks after The Mail on Sunday exposed the vast sums being lost to foreign patients who fail to pay up.

‘Hit squads’ are being sent into trusts to help them recoup as much money as possible, while hospital bosses are also now being told to demand payment up front, except in cases of emergency.

The NHS has for the first time revealed a price list of treatments, with charges of up to £144,000, to be presented to overseas patients.

‘Hit squads’ are being sent into trusts to help them recoup as much money as possible, while hospital bosses are also now being told to demand payment up front, except in cases of emergency

Women who fly in to Britain from outside Europe to give birth on the NHS will now be handed a £7,000 bill before treatment begins.

Patients who are not entitled to free NHS care will also be charged up to £16,400 if they need cardiac surgery and £2,607 for each day in intensive care under the new Overseas Patient Up Front Price List, detailing hundreds of treatments.

Patients from inside the European Economic Area will face charges a third lower, although in practice most should be covered by the European Health Insurance Card and other reciprocal schemes, at least until Brexit.

A month ago, this newspaper revealed that NHS hospitals across England had failed to collect at least £140 million from overseas visitors they had billed over the past five years. Hospitals are thought to have lost more money still by failing to identify many health tourists in the first place.

One trust, University Hospitals Birmingham, managed to recoup just ten per cent of the £4.8 million it billed between April 2013 and last December.

Now NHS Improvement, the body responsible for controlling costs, has announced it is to send hit squads into 50 trusts to help them get more cash back, expecting to recover £43.7 million.

It has set them the target of recovering 95 per cent of the total bills. That will be a huge task as Mail on Sunday analysis found trusts got back an average of just £1 for every £3 they invoiced in 2016/17.

NHS bosses have launched a crackdown on health tourism, just weeks after The Mail on Sunday exposed the vast sums being lost to foreign patients who fail to pay up

NHS bosses have launched a crackdown on health tourism, just weeks after The Mail on Sunday exposed the vast sums being lost to foreign patients who fail to pay up

Last October, rules came into force making it legally binding for hospitals to invoice overseas patients – and ensure the bill is paid where possible – before treatment starts.

But enforcement has only been rolled out slowly so far, in pilot schemes in 18 trusts. There, patients have been charged if unable to show ID and proof of UK address. NHS Improvement estimates hospitals should be collecting £167 million a year from overseas visitors, but are now only recovering £113 million, a £54 million shortfall.

Dr Kathy McLean, medical director of NHS Improvement, said: ‘With NHS finances coming under increasing pressure, it is vital that hospitals are properly supported to recover income they are entitled to.’

Labour wards have been at the forefront of health tourism concerns: two years ago St George’s Hospital in South London admitted a fifth of its deliveries – up to 900 births – were to women who flew in from outside Europe.

In future, such women will be presented with an up-front bill of £2,099 for antenatal care, £4,303 for the delivery itself, and £592 for postnatal care – totalling £6,994.

NHS Improvement emphasised that overseas patients will not be charged for GP care, nor emergency care in A&E. Certain ‘vulnerable groups’ such as refugees and asylum seekers are also exempt, as are immigrants who have paid the recently introduced health surcharge of £150 to £200 a year.

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk