Crackdown on foreign NHS treatment

[Northerner]

Ministers have warned they will not tolerate abuse of the NHS by foreign visitors after a woman reportedly flew from Nigeria so that she could have her baby in a British hospital.
The unnamed woman was alleged to have received treatment totalling ?10,000 but returned home after having had her child without paying anything.
Health Minister Simon Burns said that the Government was looking to tighten the rules to prevent "inappropriate" access to free hospital treatment by foreign visitors.
The heavily pregnant woman was said to have travelled from Lagos to Manchester because she was concerned about the standard of treatment she would receive in her own country.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/uk...x_Cba_vCWa1LoYflw?docId=N0156921345757940943A

 

[Northerner]

Interestingly, when I broke my femur and spent nearly a week in a Stockholm hospital (private room, excellent operation and care) I didn't have a EHIC card at the time (naughty, I know). I received a bill on my return to the UK and half-expected to have to pay thousands via my travel insurance...but the bill was for ?20 which I gladly paid! No idea how they arrived at that as I couldn't understand the Swedish!

 

[HelenM]

Interestingly, when I broke my femur and spent nearly a week in a Stockholm hospital (private room, excellent operation and care) I didn't have a EHIC card at the time (naughty, I know). I received a bill on my return to the UK and half-expected to have to pay thousands via my travel insurance...but the bill was for ?20 which I gladly paid! No idea how they arrived at that as I couldn't understand the Swedish!

You were entitled whether you actually had the card or not. I've twice used the NHS since living in France. The first time my EHIC was waived away, more recently at a walk in centre, they did log it but I could have got away without telling them I lived abroad.
It will get really silly when I get a UK state pension. At the moment France issues my EHIC so any treatment for ongoing conditions or new ones but not elective treatment is refunded by France. As a state pensioner, living in France, my entitlement will have the same limitations but the UK will issue the EHIC and will have to refund itself if I use it in the UK . (and there's a procedure for it... but I dread to think what any receptionist will make of it )


The rules are horribly complicated as to who is and isn't entitled to access the NHS without payment as regards pregnancy

because of
the severe health risks associated with conditions such as eclampsia and pre-eclampsia,
maternity services, even in early pregnancy, should always be considered to be immediately
necessary and must not be withheld if the woman is unable to pay in advance. No woman must
ever be denied, or have delayed, maternity services due to charging issues, although she
should be informed if charges apply to her treatment. She should not be discouraged from
receiving the remainder of her maternity treatment. A chargeable patient remains liable for
charges and the debt should be pursued in the normal way.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh.../@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_134418.pdf

 

[Northerner]

You were entitled whether you actually had the card or not. I've twice used the NHS since living in France. The first time my EHIC was waived away, more recently at a walk in centre, they did log it but I could have got away without telling them I lived abroad.
It will get really silly when I get a UK state pension. At the moment France issues my EHIC so any treatment for ongoing conditions or new ones but not elective treatment is refunded by France. As a state pensioner, living in France, my entitlement will have the same limitations but the UK will issue the EHIC and will have to refund itself if I use it in the UK . (and there's a procedure for it... but I dread to think what any receptionist will make of it )

Didn't realise you didn't actually need the card. I vaguely remember being asked for it, but since I was in shock, on morphine, and the doctor was Swedish with poor English I probably didn't understand his response! 🙂

I've never really asked my Dad who pays his medical bills - he lives in Holland. He went over there in his mid-50s and worked for a while, but then got cancer. He survived that with some excellent treatment from the Dutch health service then retired early. He's also had psoriasis for 20 years and recently skin cancer so that must be quite a bill overall! I suspect he's had better treatment than he might have expected in some (but not all) of our PCTs here.

 

[Copepod]

Original story is slightly strange, as airlines have limits on how later into a pregnancy a woman can fly, depending, I think, on length of flight. So, probably airline shouldn't have let her fly Nigeria to UK, due to pregnancy. Then baby was obviously in some distress, hence emergency caesarian, but seems not born too early to leave hospital before mother gave contact details. All suggest mother was more concerned about getting a UK hospital as baby's palce of birth, and avoiding health costs back home, than really seeking the best treatment for herself and her baby in Nigeria, although from Nigerian friends who have worked in Nigerian healthcare & law and UK friends who worked in Nigeria in education through VSO, I do understand that there are other factors such as religious divides, bribes etc.

 

[HelenM]

Didn't realise you didn't actually need the card. I vaguely remember being asked for it, but since I was in shock, on morphine, and the doctor was Swedish with poor English I probably didn't understand his response

better to have it though since it confirms entitlement.(there are though human rights issues on denying treatment and most European countries would treat first and think about charging issues later