Patients ‘to be forced to prove they’re eligible’ before getting free NHS care in bid to save £2billion a year
Health Secretary announces ambitious plans to deter health tourists from abusing the National Health Service
PATIENTS could be forced to show ID to prove they are entitled to free NHS care before being treated.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to save taxpayers £2billion a year by deterring health tourists.
One hospital already plans to ask all pregnant women to show passports after it was identified as an “easy target”.
St George’s University Hospitals Trust in Tooting, South London, says new national guidance is “likely to advocate routine presentation of proof of identity and eligibility”.
It has proposed a pilot in which it denies “non-eligible” women free maternity care.
Documents, first seen by the Health Service Journal, say health tourism costs the trust £5million a year.
Bosses said they are aware fixers “offer paid assistance to women in Nigeria to have babies for free on the NHS”.
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It is thought mums-to-be want to access safer care in the UK, with infant mortality significantly higher in Nigeria.
Overseas patients must pay for NHS treatment, but only a fraction of the costs are ever actually recovered.
The St George’s report says the Home Office is “very keen” to support the pilot and want to roll it out to other hospital departments if successful.
But the British Medical Association last night objected to the plan.
A spokesman said: “A doctor’s duty is to treat the patient, not to act as a border guard.”
