NHS staff must help end health tourism

It should go without saying that people who are not entitled to free care on the NHS should not receive it other than in an emergency, and even then the cost should be recovered. This is true in every other country in the world. Here, because we have a taxpayer-funded system free at the point of delivery, it is highly vulnerable to exploitation. Yet when any government tries to prevent or limit “health tourism”, the forces of resistance gather. It won’t work, say critics. Or more often, we are told that health tourism does not really exist despite evidence that billions of pounds are lost every year to a cash-strapped NHS.

Despite this, the people who are most critical of efforts to stop this are often working in the NHS. True to form, when new rules came into effect yesterday to try to establish the entitlement of foreign nationals to free treatment, the principal response from the medical profession was condemnatory.

Hospital staff will be required to request documents to prove residence, employment and financial wherewithal. Patients without entitlement will be asked to pay “upfront” charges for treatment. Most taxpayers would regard this as a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But the British Medical Association said the proposals “lack clarity” and “run the risk of causing confusion”. Preventing sick and vulnerable patients from being treated would be “morally unacceptable”.

But no one is suggesting that sick people should not be helped. The aim is to ensure the treatment is paid for. The NHS does not even recoup money from overseas visitors who were willing to pay but have returned home, losing an estimated £500 million annually as a result.

Understandably, doctors do not want to act as immigration officers but they are not being asked to: assessments of entitlement can be carried out by administrative staff. Moreover, if the BMA is concerned that the rules are not clear they should suggest ways in which they can be made to work better. The Government has already backed away from charging non-residents to visit GP surgeries, which is a mistake and should be looked at again.

Overseas visitors are welcome to use the NHS provided they make a fair financial contribution. Given the massive pressures on the health service it is unconscionable that the British taxpayer should continue to pay for the healthcare of all comers, and the Government should be supported by all in the NHS in its efforts to stop it.