NHS Scotland says no to upfront care payments for foreigners

‘Not something we will countenance’

A CRACKDOWN on health tourism in which overseas patients pay up front for NHS treatment will not be countenanced in Scotland, a government spokesman said yesterday.

Changes to the law in England mean hospitals will be obliged to identify patients who are not entitled to free NHS care and charge them in advance.

The rules come into force on Monday and hospital staff have been instructed to ask every patient starting a new course of treatment in a clinic or on a ward where they have been living for the past six months.

But last night the Scottish Government said there were ‘absolutely no plans’ to adopt England’s approach to charging overseas visitors who need NHS healthcare in Scotland. In England, patients who say they have been living in the UK for the past six months will not necessarily be asked for proof, although it is likely to come in at a later date.

But those who have recently been living abroad will be told to provide documents proving they are entitled to free NHS care, such as an EHIC insurance card from an EU country.

Hospitals which fail to identify and bill overseas patients will be financially penalised and money will be withheld from them by local NHS trusts which control their budgets.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the NHS ‘cannot afford to offer free healthcare to overseas visitors’.

But a Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Making people show their passport and pay an upfront fee to receive urgent or emergency healthcare is not something we will countenance in Scotland.’