Ministers had promised to crack down on overseas visitors abusing the NHS by making it a legal requirement for hospitals to charge upfront those not entitled to free care. Under strict rules, patients were to be asked to prove their eligibility by showing a passport and evidence of a permanent UK address.
Pregnant women, thought to account for the majority of health tourism costs, were a particular target.It's about time! I'm amazed, but delighted, that this useless Tory government is getting something right at last!
Oh. Hang on...
Trials have been discontinued and the Department of Health and Social Care said it has no intention of making the checks mandatory.
Last night, it also indicated its focus had shifted to better collection of unpaid health tourists' bills.What? Why?
The U-turn follows campaigns by Left-wing activists, including doctors and nurses, opposed to charging migrants.
They claim doing so is 'racist' and have called on hospital workers to stop checks.If Fred on the assembly floor decides to disobey a management order to reassemble widgets a different way to that done last month, and encourages his fellows to do the same, he'll be dismissed.
Why isn't the NHS run on the same lines? And will we see the police scupper similar moves to get a grip on problems?
These people are public servants, are they not?
Well, let's face it: if Ministers are told to take us out of the EU, and instead they spend time trying to think up excuses to stay in... that sets an example, doesn't it?
ReplyDelete"These people are public servants, are they not?"
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for us, the answer is (like so much of the doings of this apology-for-a-government) "In name only".
The two Blairs turned the police service into the paramilitary enforcement arm of the liberal establishment who welcome diversity in everything except thought and opinion. Errant thinkers MUST become unpersons.
Common Purpose rules!
I had a heart attack four years ago. The lunchtime after my stent operation I was confronted by a hatchet faced harridan with a clipboard and a letter demanding payment. Apparently I was not 'on the computer'. I am a very obvious native speaker of English and also so white as to be practically translucent, but to hell with common sense.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you on this one. Doctors and nurses should toe the line or lose their jobs.
ReplyDeleteAn ex Army colleague, who lives in France, but who pays UK tax on his military and Police pensions, was taken to A&E near where he was visiting, after being knocked down by a motorist (who didn't stop). When booking him in, he was told he would have to pay for treatment as he was not a UK resident. Unfortunately, there were no left wing doctors or nurses around, nor anyone interested in him being a UK tax payer, and had to rely on travel insurance. Perhaps if he'd said he was from Mogadishu and had arrived last week in the back of a lorry, they'd have put him in a single room.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
As a NHS receptionist who has to clarify details of where a patient is born when they arrive at a hospital for outpatient treatment itis true that health service staff do set the place of birth in most cases as the UK. Usually it is the GP staff who note the place of birth first; if it seems incorrect then I will confirm the details, vast majority of people happy to comply. Over the past few year less than 10 declined to answer where they were born.
ReplyDelete"...that sets an example, doesn't it?"
ReplyDeleteIndeed...
"The two Blairs turned the police service into the paramilitary enforcement arm of the liberal establishment..."
Thank goodness we now have a Conservative government to reverse all that, eh?
...
What?
"...but to hell with common sense."
It should be renamed 'uncommon sense'!
"Perhaps if he'd said he was from Mogadishu and had arrived last week in the back of a lorry, they'd have put him in a single room."
Very likely!
"Over the past few year less than 10 declined to answer where they were born."
And were all the others ever checked? Verified?
Julia, in reply to your question of the 12/May, the hospital trust where I work has a section that can ask patients details of where they were born and ask for verification. However sheer weight of numbers means that they tend to concentrate on inpatients. The outpatient's should have their details checked by the GP's receptionist but they tend to default to saying 'born in the UK'. For saving money better now to ask for patients email address. Verification team has less than 5 people in it at present.
ReplyDelete