The doctors’ union was branded ‘out of touch’ last night after its head claimed only a ‘small amount’ of money is lost to health tourism every year.
Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association, said proposals to make patients in England show their passports to prove their eligibility for free hospital care are ‘disproportionate’.
He said the £2billion we spend on healthcare for overseas visitors every year – 2 per cent of the NHS budget – was a mere ‘pinprick’ compared to the size of NHS deficits.
But last night Tory MPs attacked the BMA, saying it was vital to claw back the money lost to health tourism to help the NHS remain financially sustainable in the years ahead.
And Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed the success of a passport scheme trialled in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, which saw the amount of money the local trust receives from overseas visitors triple in just four years.
Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association, said proposals to make patients in England show their passports to prove their eligibility for free hospital care are ‘disproportionate’
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed the success of a passport scheme trialled in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, which saw the amount of money the local trust receives from overseas visitors triple in just four years
Mr Hunt said: ‘The NHS is a national – not an international – health service that we pay for through taxation, so it’s absolutely right we expect those who aren’t entitled to free care to make a contribution too.
‘These findings from Peterborough are very encouraging, and we will keep working hard to protect our NHS from anyone who tries to abuse the system.’
The scheme is controversial, however, as it would mean British patients may also have to prove their identity to confirm their eligibility for free treatment.
Only non-urgent hospital care is charged – seeing a GP is free, as are casualty visits. Those who would not receive free healthcare include visitors on holiday or a business trip; and others who could not show they are here on a ‘lawful and properly settled basis’.
On Monday, permanent secretary Chris Wormald, the most senior official at the Department of Health, told MPs that they were looking at the Peterborough scheme as he wanted to claw back £500million a year, and admitted hospitals were nowhere near this figure.
On Monday, permanent secretary Chris Wormald, the most senior official at the Department of Health, told MPs that they were looking at the Peterborough scheme as he wanted to claw back £500million a year, and admitted hospitals were nowhere near this figure
But Dr Porter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that health tourism was only a ‘small problem’ and that the real problem was that so many trusts were in deficit because of Government funding shortages.
He said: ‘Introducing something across the entire NHS in this way in response to the overall picture, which is a small problem, is I think something that would be tremendously controversial.
‘We have an NHS being deliberately starved of resources necessary to treat British people, and recouping a small amount from overseas visitors by the introduction of a new mechanism where British people have to show their eligibility is not going to fulfil this gap.’
Mr Porter has repeatedly locked horns with the Government in his four years at the head of the British Medical Association.
The consultant anaesthetist has been a fierce critic of Mr Hunt’s plan to provide full NHS services seven days a week, and disputed his insistence that not enough doctors work at weekends.
Dr Porter strode into the limelight during the controversial junior doctors’ dispute, in which his union called the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS, causing huge disruption.
The 54-year-old is paid £40,000 a year for his three-day-a-week job as chairman of council at the BMA, in addition to his salary as a consultant at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.
CITY THAT SHOWS HOW WE CAN GET OUR CASH BACK
The crackdown on health tourism was spearheaded in Peterborough, where public services are under enormous pressure following a huge influx of foreign workers.
Asking for passports and other ID has proved so successful that the local health trust now collects money from 95 per cent of chargeable overseas visitors, compared to just 37 per cent in 2012.
Between 2001 and 2011, the population of Peterborough soared 17 per cent.
Around one in 12 is now from central or eastern Europe, attracted by jobs in the region’s factories and farms.
A further one in ten residents were of Asian origin in the 2011 census, a figure that – as with EU citizens – will have increased since then.
The local health trust began enforcing ‘proof of entitlement’ checks for non-urgent treatment in May 2013.
Patients booked in for appointments and elective surgery receive a letter telling them to bring their passport and proof of address, such as a utility bill, or provide visa details or evidence that they are entitled to free NHS treatment.
The trust claims the number of non-UK residents requesting treatment has not changed significantly but more who should pay are being identified, generating £250,000 extra income every year.
Peterborough’s Conservative MP Stewart Jackson said: ‘All healthcare professionals have a responsibility to safeguard public money and make sure that people are eligible to receive NHS care, because it’s a very scarce resource.’
Residents were also overwhelmingly in support of the policy yesterday. Grandmother-of-four Janet Hawkins, 59, said: ‘It’s unacceptable in some cases for people to come to this country just for healthcare.’
Polish citizen Ella Juliusz, 31, welcomed the scheme, saying a similar one already operated in her home country.
However, there were concerns that staff at the hospital were not enforcing the crackdown uniformly.
One patient from Lincolnshire, who asked not to be named, said: ‘On the first occasion I came here about three years ago I was asked in a letter to bring all the stuff but it wasn’t required, probably owing to the fact I spoke English.’
Gul Nawaz, a Conservative city councillor and member of Peterborough Racial Equality Council, complained that some found the policy offensive.
‘A lot of people say they’re not very happy because they’ve been in the country a long time,’ said Mr Nawaz, who came to the UK from Pakistan in 1969.
The savings from the scheme cover both hospitals operated by Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The trust’s Overseas Visitor and Private Patient Team has four dedicated members of staff to secure payments.
A spokeswoman last night said patients who turn up to appointments or procedures without identification can either reschedule or, if in the case of ongoing treatment, bring it along on their next visit.
She added: ‘In 2013 we started this process because it was identified that we needed to change our approach to overseas visitors.
‘We didn’t have a formal process like we do now and weren’t able to recover as much of the money as we possible could.’
Clawing back more money from overseas visitors would be ‘little other than a pinprick on the top of the actual problems facing the NHS’, Dr Porter said.
Last night a Government source said: ‘It is totally out of touch for Dr Porter to trivialise an issue of basic fairness.
‘We all pay for the NHS through taxation – and so it’s absolutely right that those who aren’t entitled to free care make a proper contribution.
‘Ultimately, that is in everyone’s interests, because it will help ensure the NHS is sustainable into the future.’
Dr Porter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that health tourism was only a ‘small problem’ and that the real problem was that so many trusts were in deficit because of Government funding shortages
WE PAY £565MILLION…AND RECOVER £56MILLION
Britain pays ten times more to European countries than it receives back for the cost of citizens’ healthcare.
The UK gave £565million to other EU governments for the costs of Britons falling ill abroad in 2015/16.
But only £56million came back to pay the bills of European nationals who benefit from NHS care while in this country, according to figures revealed by a Freedom of Information request.
That is just over a quarter of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s target of £200million a year to be recouped from the EU.
On Monday the most senior official at the Department of Health, Chris Wormald, said he could not guarantee that the target would ever be met.
The shocking figures which underline the extent of ‘health tourism’ in the UK were unveiled by Tory MP Charlie Elphicke.
The discrepancy in the amount received comes despite the fact that fewer than two million British citizens live elsewhere in the EU, compared with 2.6million EU citizens in the UK.
The figures do not include the costs of European migrants who come to work in Britain under freedom of movement rules.
If workers can show they are an ‘ordinary resident’ in Britain, and can prove they are living and working in the UK, they are entitled to free NHS treatment funded by the British taxpayer.
Other EU visitors should have their NHS care paid for by their own government – but hospitals are poor at chasing the money.
Britain paid Spain £178.6million last year but only £3.3million came back.
Mr Wormald said the discrepancy was driven by the number of UK pensioners living abroad.
The NHS has made some progress.
While in 2015/16 Britain paid £10 for every £1 it got back, the year before the discrepancy was £14 to £1.
Tory MP for Dover Charlie Elphicke said: ‘It is important that the BMA does more to represent the concerns of doctors on the front line. They are clearly out of touch with patients and doctors who want to see the NHS get more of the funding it needs.’
John Mann, a Labour MP and member of the Treasury select committee, attacked the BMA’s idea that health tourism was only a ‘pinprick’ compared to the NHS deficit.
‘We pay for UK citizens’ health abroad, but we fail to charge foreigners here,’ he said.
‘This on its own would solve the hospital deficits problem.’
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: ‘Doctors don’t like asking for people’s ID, but they should remember that this is not their own money – it is taxpayers’ money for the NHS.’
But the passport plan was criticised by Labour’s shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who said: ‘Our public sector staff are not border guards.
‘We should be clear what this policy would mean.
‘Either we would all have to carry two pieces of ID to get treatment, or those who are believed to sound or look foreign will be profiled in order to receive treatment.’
HOW EUROPE MAKES IT MUCH TOUGHER FOR US
British citizens are entitled to emergency medical treatment in most of Europe, but access is much more tightly regulated than in the UK.
FRANCE: The EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) entitles British citizens to 70 to 80 per cent of healthcare costs at a state-approved provider. At small clinics or dentists full payment is required upfront, and then the patient claims it back from the French authorities – involving a lot of bureaucracy.
GERMANY: A passport and EHIC card are needed to access state medical care. British patients are covered by German state-approved insurance schemes, which claim the money back from the NHS. There is a non-refundable 10 euros a day charge for hospital stays, and about 10 euros per prescription.
SPAIN: An EHIC card is required at state-run clinics and hospitals, and is usually free. Only urgent treatment is covered.
POLAND: The EHIC card entitles treatment at hospitals covered by the Polish National Health Fund. At private clinics Britons will be charged.
ITALY: Britons get state hospital care with an EHIC card. Not all care is free – a fee will often be charged. Arrangements last for visits of a maximum three months.
DENMARK: Britons may have to pay for their care upfront and claim it back from a municipal office, providing all bills, hospital documents, EHIC card and bank details. Some hospitals provide care for free.
