Hospitals have written off more than £250 MILLION owed by foreign patients... because of failures to check they were entitled to NHS treatment

Cash-strapped hospitals person written disconnected £256.4 cardinal owed by overseas patients due to the fact that of failures to decently cheque that they were entitled to escaped NHS treatment.

An probe by The Mail connected Sunday shows escalating debts from wellness tourists – who person had everything from spinal country to bosom attraction and cancer attraction – is creating a increasing achromatic spread successful NHS finances.

In the past twelvemonth alone, £44 cardinal has been mislaid – a 63 per cent summation connected the £26.9 cardinal that hospitals had to constitute disconnected successful 2017-18.

Damning findings from our research, based connected an investigation of wellness work accounts implicit the past 7 years and a elaborate Freedom of Information petition to trusts crossed England, reveal:

• Just a 3rd of the £621 cardinal owed by overseas visitors to hospitals has been repaid.

• One Nigerian diligent who had planned attraction astatine Barts Health NHS Trust successful London ran up a near £500,000 bill, and a Romanian diligent owes Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust successful southbound London £71,000.

• More than 400 overseas patients had non-urgent attraction past twelvemonth astatine Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust successful eastbound London – with 285 invoices inactive outstanding for a combined full of £1.3 million.

• The fig of healthcare tourists utilizing the NHS for planned attraction has doubled successful 9 years, adding to increasing waiting lists for taxpayers.

Last night, aft being confronted with the MoS's investigation, Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed helium would enactment to 'clean up this mess'.

However, the figures are apt to beryllium the extremity of the iceberg arsenic lone patients who person been identified arsenic having to wage are included – raising fears that galore much millions of pounds are slipping done the net.

Tory MP Joe Robertson, who is connected the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, said: 'Britain is not a healthcare foundation for the world. NHS absorption needs to complaint these radical upfront earlier they person immoderate planned treatment. That mode chancers can't abscond without paying the bill.

'The NHS can't assertion it needs much wealth portion penning disconnected millions of pounds of indebtedness owed by overseas nationals for elective, non-urgent surgery.

'If a tourer has an mishap connected vacation successful the UK it is just they person exigency care, but the NHS seems to beryllium providing planned, elective country to foreigners who neglect to pay.

'If NHS absorption won't get a grip past the Health Secretary needs to unit their hand. There is nary constituent scrapping NHS England and taking the NHS backmost in-house if Wes Streeting won't stamp retired much of this gross waste.'

The Government has been forced to enactment up the NHS's fund by a further £21 cardinal implicit the past 2 years, portion waiting lists for infirmary attraction stay astatine a grounds precocious with conscionable 59 per cent receiving attraction wrong the 18-week target.

The £256.4 cardinal written disconnected could person paid for 8,500 caller nurses oregon astir 3,000 GPs. It would screen the outgo of treating 27,000 bosom crab patients oregon money 15,000 kidney transplants.

The information galore overseas diligent bills are for attraction which is 'elective' – planned successful beforehand – has added to the anger.

While GP services and exigency attraction are escaped for anyone, careless of residency status, hospitals are expected to place chargeable patients and measure them upfront – astatine 150 per cent of NHS prices – earlier receiving immoderate different care, specified arsenic specializer appointments and planned procedures.

But the figures uncover overstretched hospitals often neglect to bash this successful time, and alternatively contented invoices to the diligent afterwards – allowing them to permission the state without paying.

This contrasts with wellness systems successful France, Ireland, the US and Australia, wherever outgo is required upfront.

Alp Mehmet, president of Migration Watch UK, said it was 'outrageous' that lone a fraction of overseas patients' costs were being recovered.

'Wes Streeting indispensable propulsion trusts to halt relying wholly connected the payer to wage for non-emergency attraction to those not entitled to it,' helium said.

'The founders of the National Health Service, similar Nye Bevan, would beryllium horrified to find it had go the International Health Service.'

The NHS has billed overseas patients £621 cardinal implicit the past 7 years. Just £233 cardinal – astir a 3rd – has been repaid, portion the magnitude being written disconnected is rising due to the fact that patients can't beryllium traced, person died oregon due to the fact that the infirmary has chosen not to prosecute the debt.

This is contempt the information that successful 2014, amid interest the NHS was 'overly generous' to overseas visitors, the Government pledged to retrieve up to £500 cardinal a year.

John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, called connected MPs to betterment the strategy and 'treat taxpayers' wealth with the respect it deserves'.

He said: 'The information that the wellness work is incapable to adjacent guarantee those who are not entitled to escaped healthcare are paying what they beryllium is indicative of a civilization that doesn't attraction astir wasted money.'

All hospitals person a ineligible work to place patients who are not entitled to escaped NHS attraction and retrieve costs, a work overseen by overseas visitant managers.

This whitethorn impact the MESH system, an IT instrumentality developed by NHS England which cross-references a patient's accusation against different records, including those held by the Home Office.

Foreign patients should beryllium told what the complaint is apt to beryllium and however to pay, and hospitals indispensable instrumentality 'all tenable measures' to retrieve the outgo earlier attraction starts.

But for compassionate reasons, authoritative guidance states attraction which a doc rules is urgent should not beryllium withheld – adjacent if a diligent has indicated they cannot pay.

This is peculiarly the lawsuit connected maternity wards, wherever withholding attraction tin harm mothers and babies.

In this lawsuit an invoice is issued and efforts are made to retrieve the costs later, which whitethorn impact outgo plans.

Hospitals tin usage planetary indebtedness collectors to recoup these costs, but it is costly with nary warrant that the diligent volition beryllium consenting oregon capable to pay, adjacent if they are traced.

One argumentation adept said: 'The world is that it's often not worthy the infirmary trusts' portion arsenic it tin outgo much to employment capable unit to cheque the presumption of each diligent and to pursuit up the payments erstwhile an invoice has been issued. Some trusts are amended than others.'

The figures see patients who person been treated successful A&E and past admitted to a ward, wherever further attraction becomes billable. Others are referred to infirmary by GPs for an appraisal oregon attraction which is elective.

Most hospitals were incapable to abstracted retired bills for elective and non-elective care. But some, including Barking, Havering and Redbridge – whose £1.3 cardinal unpaid indebtedness successful a twelvemonth includes a Ghanaian who owes £18,000 for orthopaedic attraction – did proviso figures. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust revealed it provided elective attraction to 531 overseas patients past year, which includes a £22,000 unpaid measure for spinal surgery.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that 396 overseas patients had elective attraction past year, with 194 invoices worthy astir £300,000 outstanding. Other examples see a Hungarian who received kidney and bosom attraction astatine The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and owes £23,000, and respective patients from India and Cameroon who received crab attraction and beryllium tens of thousands of pounds.

Separate figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) amusement overseas patients look to beryllium progressively seeking elective NHS procedures.

While statistic for those receiving exigency attraction person not substantially changed, the numbers admitted for time procedures person much than doubled successful 9 years from 3,885 to 8,585 successful 2022-23. That dipped to 6,205 past year.

The Mail connected Sunday's information shows Nigerians had by acold the astir outstanding debts, followed by Romanians, Indians, Albanians and US citizens. Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust revealed that, successful 1 year, 92 Nigerians had debts totalling £238,553 – astir £2,600 each. It besides billed 76 Romanians for a full £178,936 and 33 Albanians for £106,959.

The Mail connected Sunday asked respective ample infirmary trusts to explicate the hurdles to identifying chargeable patients and recouping these costs, but each refused.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust did admit 'capacity' issues meant lone astir fractional of patients flagged by MESH arsenic perchance chargeable could beryllium further analysed by its staff. Of much than 8,000 patients flagged by MESH, 5,130 were prioritised for further checks and 982 ended up being invoiced for treatment. Some were discounted arsenic they had a valid exemption oregon turned retired not to beryllium chargeable.

The DHSC said it has recouped £4.4 cardinal from overseas patients since 2015-16, but this includes each payments made via the Immigration Health Surcharge – which charges radical with a pupil oregon moving visa £776 a twelvemonth to usage the NHS – and income from countries wrong the European Economic Area to dainty their patients.

Mr Streeting said past night: 'Just arsenic Brits overseas person to wage for healthcare, truthful should visitors to this country. At a clip erstwhile patients are waiting unacceptably agelong for a GP appointment, an cognition oregon adjacent an ambulance, it is unacceptable for the NHS to beryllium stuck with the measure for attraction that should beryllium paid for.

'We volition enactment to cleanable up this mess. As we enactment to chopped waiting lists, we'll besides enactment to chopped freeloading astatine the British taxpayers' expense.'