NHS owed £180k for treating foreigners

Published on Thursday 21 May 2009 09:58

MORE than £180,000 is owed to NHS Lothian for treatment carried out on foreign patients in recent years.

Figures have shown that the number of patients from outwith the EU – who are therefore not entitled to free healthcare – has rocketed.

In 2006, just 45 people received care from NHS Lothian, leaving an outstanding bill of 15,000. That number has more than doubled and 120,000 remains unpaid from 2008.

Health chiefs said people who fell ill but were not covered could hardly be turned away, and that all money was chased up either by NHS Lothian or the relevant country's embassy.

The Capital's growing reputation as an international tourist attraction is one reason for the increase, NHS Lothian bosses added, but patients' organisations said more had to be done to recoup the money and to put it back in the system.

The figures released through the Freedom of Information Act show a range of procedures have been carried out on non-European economic area residents in the last three years.

Included in these treatments were plastic surgery, transplants, cancer procedures and cardiac surgery.

People benefiting from the care came from as far afield as Malawi, Mexico, Uganda and Bermuda, although it is not clear if those people were tourists or immigrants.

Susan Goldsmith, director of finance for NHS Lothian, said: "Edinburgh is a top international tourist destination and as such will account for more bad debt following treatment here.

"In many cases, treatment needs to begin immediately before assurances can be obtained about ability to pay. NHS Lothian has to balance its requirement for payment with its moral obligation to provide emergency medical care.

"Debt recovery is taken very seriously although there are additional hurdles in securing payment from a small percentage of overseas visitors.

"If a patient does not pay an invoice from NHS Lothian, three reminder letters are sent to the patient's home address. The debt is thereafter handed to a recovery agency and finally sent to the relevant embassy."

The total cost of treatment in 2008 to foreigners was 244,785.

Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, urged the NHS to "recover the money with interest".

She said: "It is a lot of money we are talking here, money that could be used to buy expensive cancer drugs or to improve hospital meals."