Hospital

[NigelJK]

You can't not treat her

Apparently you can.

[SueEllen]

One of the patients was quite tragic. A pregnant Nigerian, not allowed entry to the US because she didn't have the right insurance in place, was taken ill on a flight back to Nigeria via Heathrow. She was taken to hospital here and treated. I think she had 5 babies in all, 3 of which died. Her bill at the end of the programme was £331k and rising.

If she lived a hundred lifetimes, she could never pay that bill.

You can't not treat her, but that's £331k not available to treat other patients, who are entitled to it.

That's a one off. But a load of cases are deliberate.

[vetran]

If you were a single illegal immigrant from a developing country you wouldn't give a tulip about that unless you could be imprisoned at some point for not getting your family to pay.

possibly not but key things here are we want to get

the ones who can pay to pay.
The ones who can't pay not to come.
The ones who don't want to pay to be forced to pay or not come.

illegals aren't able or willing to pay. Now if they are a significant cost we can deal with them separately.

Emergency treatment = NI number / Proof of UK ID or passport. If you can't supply those then you are an illegal & need to be detained.


I have a photo driving licence , Credit cards etc the police can identify me easily.

[northernladyuk]

sorry to say all medical treatment for non residents should be chargeable full stop. We may not charge prior to emergency assistance but it should be charged at some point.

Change the law, then. The NHS can't be blamed for this part.

Easy thing is to say - ask patient / relative where are your details Passport etc lookup insurance & advise them.

Otherwise take passport until paid.

I can't see the basis of taking the relative's passport when they do not have a debt (unless it is someone with parental responsibility). As for taking the patient's passport, is it not the property of an overseas government? I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe rather than leaving debts to be managed by individual NHS Trusts they should be passed to the HMRC's IRDU or auctioned to an international debt collection firm.

[SueEllen]

Apparently you can.

Some human rights lawyer will take us to court.

Though if they keep doing that then linky

[SueEllen]

I can't see the basis of taking the relative's passport when they do not have a debt (unless it is someone with parental responsibility). As for taking the patient's passport, is it not the property of an overseas government? I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe rather than leaving debts to be managed by individual NHS Trusts they should be passed to the HMRC's IRDU or auctioned to an international debt collection firm.

In the states you cannot leave the country with a health debt so it is possible to do it here.

[northernladyuk]

In the states you cannot leave the country with a health debt so it is possible to do it here.

I would be very surprised if that is true.

[Chuck]

That's a one off. But a load of cases are deliberate.

I totally agree, and a cynical side of me wonders whether this woman, knowing this was her last chance before being returned to Nigeria, somehow harmed herself on the flight to LHR.

But it's not as simple as saying no treatment without insurance or payment. Sometimes you have no choice.

[SueEllen]

I would be very surprised if that is true.

So you've not seen the appeals from British people in the newspaper asking for funds so their son/daughter/father/other relative who was too stupid to take out travel insurance has not been allowed to leave the US due to their hospital bills?

[northernladyuk]

Emergency treatment = NI number / Proof of UK ID or passport. If you can't supply those then you are an illegal & need to be detained.

That is not necessarily true.