Bill to empower hospitals to recover costs from migrants and overseas patients

By The Press Association18th May 2016News EnglandHospitals, Immigration, News England, NHS

Overseas visitors and migrants face a tough clampdown on accessing NHS care, with more powers for hospitals to recover costs.

The new NHS (Overseas Visitors Charging) Bill, which is to be published before the Parliamentary summer recess, will tighten up the rules around eligibility for free NHS care.

It means fewer European visitors will qualify for NHS care, while more overseas visitors and migrants would be charged for NHS services the Government says they are not entitled to.

An independent report for the Department of Health in 2013 suggested overseas visitors and migrants cost the NHS about £2 billion a year.

Under the new Bill, only UK residents who “live here lawfully and make a financial contribution to this country” will get free NHS care, according to details in the Queen’s speech.

The new legislation will extend the current range of services for which the NHS is able to charge and there will also be more powers for hospitals to recover the full costs from overseas patients.

At present, emergency care, GP visits and family planning are exempt from charges. People suffering life-threatening illnesses and some other diseases are also exempt.

The Government has already introduced an Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for non-European Economic Area nationals who apply for a visa to stay in the UK for six months or longer.

NHS trusts also receive cash payments to improve the rate at which they recover costs from visitors.

Labour MP John Mann said Parliamentary answers had shown the Government had only managed to recover £49 million last year but had paid out £674 million to European countries that treat British nationals abroad.

He said “The Government now appears to be finally getting its act together after my campaign on this issue and it’s about time too as I have repeatedly questioned ministers on why they have failed to tackle the problem.

“The NHS is facing a critical staffing issue and the recouping of this money is vital to ensure it continues to be able to function.”

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “For too long it’s been far too easy for migrants to come to the country and use NHS services without contributing through taxes.”

He added that “we have a national – not an international – health service and at a time when savings have to be made, the Government is absolutely right” to introduce the charges.

The Government has already published a consultation paper on the issue and suggested charges would be introduced for GP appointments or A&E.

It said: “The changes outlined in this consultation will go further to supporting this, including proposals to introduce charging in primary care, ambulance services and A&E.”

Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We are disappointed and frustrated that, despite our concerns and persistent opposition, plans are being forced through to start charging overseas visitors for GP care.

“This fundamentally changes one of the founding principles of the NHS – that care is delivered free at the point of need.

“We question how cost-effective this legislation will be given that the Government’s own impact assessment found that, even in the best case scenario, economic benefits for the health service would be minimal.

“It would also be a very real public health risk to have people living with potentially contagious diseases because they are deterred from seeking healthcare because of cost.

“The College recognises that the NHS must not be abused and measures need to be taken to tackle health tourism, but doctors have a duty of care to all people seeking healthcare and must not be expected to police the system or prevent people from getting medical help when they are at their most vulnerable.

“GPs and our teams will be left doing the grunt work: explaining to patients what is bound to be a very complicated system; ticking more boxes at a time when we are calling for unnecessary bureaucracy in general practice to be reduced; and ultimately taking us away from delivering frontline patient care when demand is at an all-time high.”