Jeremy Hunt praises patient ID scheme as hospital trust income from foreign users gets £150k boost
Peterborough and Stamford NHS trust has used the scheme to clamp down on health tourism
A PIONEERING scheme that demands all patients show ID before getting treatment has seen a hospital recover nearly three times more cash from foreign visitors.
The clampdown on health tourism by Peterborough and Stamford NHS Trust was last night praised by Jeremy Hunt.
The Health Secretary told The Sun: “Hospitals must ensure people pay up if they don’t have a right to free care.”
Theresa May has also backed calls for ID checks.
Current rules say EU nations should be billed for treatment citizens receive. Non-EU citizens should pay themselves.
However, many charges are never collected. Hospital bosses in Peterborough say its scheme has boosted income by more than £150,000 each year since its introduction in May 2013.
The trust now takes £250,000 a year from foreign patients, compared to £97,000 a few years ago.
Other trusts are now likely to follow suit. Last month, The Sun revealed bosses at St George’s University Trust are planning to ask all maternity patients to show ID before being treated - after it was targeted by hundreds of health tourists.
And the Department of Health is now considering asking all patients to show their passport to get free hospital care.
Despite its success, the British Medical Association is opposed. Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA council, said: “These proposals go much too far.”
And Labour shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said: “The NHS is supposed to be free at the point of need, not free at the point of ID’d.”
But a Downing Street spokesman said: “You would expect the health service to require patients to provide credible evidence of their eligibility for free treatment on the NHS.”