As shocking as it may seem the case of the woman on fertility drugs who flew to Britain when she learned she was pregnant, had quintuplets, cost the taxpayer an estimated £200,000, is by no means unique; so-called “health tourism” continues to be a drain on ever-stretched NHS resources.
Earlier this month the media reported on the case of a 33-year-old Nigerian woman who had allegedly been taking twice the prescribed dose of a fertility drug when she, not surprisingly, became pregnant.
The woman subsequently applied for and received, a UK visitors’ visa and shortly afterwards arrived in London on a scheduled flight from Lagos.
Due to her advanced condition, which resulted in her going into labour prematurely, she required an emergency NHS scan that revealed she was expecting quads.
However the diagnosis was incorrect and it was only while she was being given a caesarean operation that a fifth baby was delivered.
Consultants, midwives, paediatricians, social workers and health visitors were involved in her (and her children’s) medical care and support; Tower Hamlets council providing her with a two-bedroomed flat, and the state, presumably, with the usual financial benefits.
Following the expiry of her visitor’s visa in late June she has allegedly asked the Home Office, through a legal representative, for a six-month extension of her visa on the basis that her five children are too fragile for the flight back to Nigeria.
Home Office officials are reported as admitting that although they realize that the woman is required to pay for the cost of her and her children’s care, they also accept that it is very unlikely she will be able to do so.
UK Border Agency officials claim they see around 150 cases a year at Gatwick Airport of heavily pregnant passengers arriving with visitor visas; how many come through Heathrow and other major British airports has yet to be disclosed.
Not all cases involve African woman – woman from Asia and Eastern Europe also, apparently, regard our National Health Service as the World Health Service.
That “Health Tourism” isn’t just confined to London is demonstrated by a report carried on the party’s South West Nationalists website (http://southwesthnationalists.blogspot.com/) as recently as yesterday.
North Bristol NHS Trust, currently facing cutbacks of £28 million and the loss of over 400 jobs, has spent £2.4 million on treating foreign patients who are not eligible for free NHS care.
The trust, which covers Southmead and Frenchay hospitals, admitted to the huge scale of spending on “health tourists” in an answer to a Freedom of Information request.
Since 2003 they have billed foreign patients who were not eligible for free health care a total of £2.4 million – and have succeeded in recovering on £688,000 of that from the patients, leaving £1,732,000 spent out on foreign patients with no entitlement to free treatment, a sum which is not likely to be recovered.
A question in Parliament revealed that, across Britain, £35.4 million had been written off as unrecoverable, a figure which beggars belief considering the huge cutbacks which our NHS is facing.
Chris Skidmore, Tory MP for Kingswood, said that “In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of foreign nationals, ineligible for free care, who have been using NHS services”.
Indeed there has been, and if we wondered why – apart from our lax border controls of course – a spokesman for North Bristol NHS Trust spells it out.
“Refusing patients medical treatment when they need it would be unacceptable. We have procedures in place to recover the cost of that treatment but unfortunately, due to the often transient nature of this category of patients, repeated attempts are, in many cases, unsuccessful”.
Of course. Those presenting themselves for free treatment know that they’ve a very good chance of getting away with never paying, so they take a chance. The odds are good they’ll get away with it, the odds are that even if they turned up owing money we’d still treat them.
Britain has become a focal point for health tourists from all over the world – and it’s all of us that keep picking up the bill, even whilst we ourselves suffer under an NHS which is being forced to cut back services and staff in order to save money.
Also yesterday the BBC’s Radio 4 Inside Ethics Committee program discussed a closely related theme; the synopsis of which was:-
Moha is a mature student born in Africa who desperately needs a transplant. His nephew, living in Africa, offers to donate a kidney. But Moha has a secret, he is HIV positive, and his doctors feel his nephew has a right to know. The question the Ethics Committee explores is whether Moha should be forced to tell.
The radio program is both revealing and thought provoking, well worth listening to in fact. It can be found here.
3
Access to the NHS is based not on nationality but on current lawful residence, past residence or current payment of taxes or national insurance. So foreign nationals simply turn up a GP’s surgery with fake addresses and fake identities or those of a relative they are staying with and get themselves registered for treatment. The GP may not be too concerned about the legitimacy of treatment for a fellow ethnic in any case.
Often the GP can be persuaded to order large quantities of medication, 6 months worth perhaps, much of which can then be sent back home overseas.
Long queues of foreigners may be seen at hospital pharmacies. ID is often not asked for if the pharmacy is busy and if it is, fake IDs may readily be supplied.
Harriet Harman Might approve of NHS Rip-Offs . She thinks Migrants who send Benefits we pay for back Home are ‘Heroes’
There is something very wrong with the NHS lately.
The 4th leading cause of death in the UK is medical error.
there is a 1 in 10 million chance of you dying in an aircrash.
The chance of you dying in hospital due to medical error is 1 in 300.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/nov/07/health.lifeandhealth
Since the excellent article above we have formed the excellent British Democratic Party ! Also the N.H.S. HAS started to collapse under the weight of immigration. The LibLabConKip and conspiring media blame the crisis at doctor’s surgeries and the latest drivel, about accident and emergency departments, on anything but the truth ! The fact is that there are millions more people living in the country ! That is the problem ! Help solve this by joining the British Democratic Party Today.
( Party Member ) At the moment we are hearing day and night about our N.H.S. COLLAPSING. (as we Nationalists said it would ) This is due to people living longer we are told by the politicians and the media. WHAT A LIE ! The real reason is that our population has grown massively due to theLiblabcon. The accident and emergency departments are overflowing. True, but are they overflowing with little old ladies who are living longer ? NO ! They are full of young immigrants with trivial complaints. Many of these, in the large cities, are here illegally. It is easy to give a false name and address at your local A and E department ! Registering with a doctor would be more risky, but not impossible in some areas. Lets photograph these A and E’s in full flow and prove who is overwhelming OUR N.H.S.
(Party Member) The Health Minister should inform the Cabinet of the need for A TOTAL BAN ON ANYONE ENTERING THIS COUNTRY FROM GUINEA, SIERRA LEONE LIBERIA , SUDAN, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO AND POSSIBLY SOME OTHERS. These Countries have had an outbreak of the dreadful disease called EBOLA. It is very infectious with an awful ninety percent CHANCE OF A HORRIBLE DEATH. All people including tourists and Immigrants who have arrived here in the last eight weeks should be made to attend their nearest ISOLATION WARD straight away, for tests. As the first duty of government is to protect the people these measures should follow an urgent public health broadcast tonight.
(Party Member) I hope we adopt the policy of abolishing prescription charges. Everyone pays into the NHS. through compulsory National Insurance charges which are even paid out of benefits. There is then supposed to be no charge at the point of need. There are no prescription charges in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales and with a General Election approaching this would be a fair addition to our manifesto.
(Party Member) With the U.S.A. getting it’s first case of enrichment with EBOLA it can only be a matter of time before BRITAIN has an outbreak of this awful DISEASE. This is because our Government does not listen to the common sense of us BRITISH DEMOCRATS. It is obvious that there should be a TOTAL BAN on People entering from the INFECTED COUNTRIES. See comment above dated 29/6/2014.
(Party Member) EBOLA OUTBREAK , FINAL WARNING. The first duty of Government is to protect the people. It is appalling that our Government has ignored the advice of top health professionals. See the British Democratic Party comments on 29/6/2014 and 2/10/2014 and BANNED all flights and ships from the INFECTED COUNTRIES. Whilst nowhere is safe it occurs to me that heavily populated multicultural London is most at risk from the highly contagious Ebola.
Having just seen on the news that our N.H.S. is on the point of collapse , due to the current Government starving it of funds , as a Nationalist I ‘ smell a rat ‘ ! All governments have always poured more money into the N.H.S. than the Governments before. Tony Blair won his first election by claiming not much was being put in ! Upon being elected he announced no major financial changes would be made for a year , while he studied the books ! The real reason , of course , was that he was shocked by just how much the Tories had actually put in , plenty ! Anyway the whole debate is a RED HERRING because any problems the N.H.S. has are caused by THE WHOLE COUNTRY BEING FLOODED WITH IMMIGRANTS , OF ALL TYPES , WHO ARE OVERWHELMING OUR N.H.S. !
John Shaw ( Party Official ) The National Health Service is under incredible pressure and the staff are coping in a fantastic manner . However , the awful MEDIA just run scare stories and interview anyone they can find who has any sort of complaint JUST TO HAVE A GO AT THE GOVERNMENT. They also hold supposedly intelligent discussions , on prime time T.V. about the ‘ CRISIS ‘. These highly paid people all have Private Medical Cover and will never face the problems that ordinary citizens may experience. They NEVER ADMIT THAT ALL THE PROBLEMS ARE ACTUALLY CAUSED BY MASS IMMIGRATION ! They then insult our intelligence even further BY CLAIMING IT IS ALL OUR FAULT BECAUSE WE ARE LIVING LONGER . JOIN the Party that tells it how it is , the BRITISH DEMOCRATS .