to think drs who recently complained about salaries should be willing to try to get money out of non uk tax payers who use the NHS

[Scoobydoo8]

It really annoys me that drs won't charge people for health care because they want to be seen as mr niceguy or something to do with their hippocratic oath or whatever it's damn unfair that anyone can come to the uk for treatment.

There have been many threads recently complaining about the new low salaries for junior doctors, which were justified, but to then whinge about having to enforce rules to reduce the misuse of the NHS by foreigners make me feel - serves you right.

They claim that it isn't worth trying to reclaim the money but look guys, if people think they will never be charged they will come in their droves, if they think they might be nailed for the cost they might stay at home - obvious imo.

It's just not the job of the doctors to do it

Well why are the BMA complaining that doctors are being expected to be Border Control????

When do you think they should do this. In amongst diagnosis or whilst running to the next ward.... Do you realise how hard docs work???

I reckon you should do the job. You clearly know how to already. Go for it sweetie.

Here. Have a

Did you also read that there is a protocol for collecting money from foreign visitors OP?

Or did you just cherry pick one point in my comment?

There are admin departments which collect money from either the foreign visitor or from their country.

Meanwhile if a foreign visitor turns up with Ebola/other hideous infectious disease I am assuming you'd prefer them to be isolated and treated rather than left to run round the country infecting others.

Yes we get health tourism but in 30 years I can still count on one hand the number I have met.

And no the foreign visitors are NOT the reason we are short staffed. That all started with the Tory Govt of the 80s and was not improved under the Labour Govt.

LIke I said above - could there be a correlation between not getting money due and being overworked.
Extra money could mean extra staff

I am one of those foreginers who use the Nhs sometimes..

I also pay A HELL of a lot of tax in this country as well help to provide ALOT of job to British people.

Nhs, I salute thee. Amazing amazing service

Well if health tourism is at such a minor level why bother going after it? I find it hard to believe that the 34 million visits by tourists generated no costs.

And if there IS no demand from foreigners why is the BMA complaining??

Just go with the flow and deal with the handful.

I was charged as a non UK resident (but UK citizen) when we needed to use an urgent care centre. Bloody bargain at 50 quid compared to what it would have cost in the U.S.!

As a doctor it is my duty to provide appropriate medical care to patients who present themselves to hospital. Not to grill them about their origins or bill them. It's not that I want to be seen as nice, it just wouldn't be ethical. I'm Irish, and have worked in both systems. The NHS has its problems but is overall an amazing service.

My DD has developed MH issues. She presented a CAMHS tier two. She was offered something wholly inadequate that would have made her worse. We declined. Her case was closed. No help or advice whatsoever to help find a therapist. We were told to find one off the internet by CAMHS and our GP. I asked what would happen if her condition deteriorated the CAMHS office said if she harmed in a way that was life threatening to take her to a&e and she'd be seen by the emergency psych.

Absolutely nothing available to prevent deterioration or the attrition of life chances.

I apologise to those in the NHS who do care but the service we have received recently has been inadequate and a fucking disgrace.

My DD is getting world class psychiatric care now. Her psych charged £385 for the first consultation. Her therapist is £140 per hour. Thankfully I have the money to pay for it because the NHS offered bugger all medical care, bugger all support and bugger all service. They proved themselves totally unfit for purpose, uncaring and incompetent.

1. The two issues are in no way related!

2. Hospitals already do bill patients who aren't entitled to NHS care. This system is however not perfect.

Actually Dr Surgeries do this. Hospitals no but surgeries, yes. Friend is a practice manager and just told me.

Doctors are willing.

Take a look at this report on GPs from earlier this year ...

"The Pulse survey reveals GPs are behind efforts to bring in more money from ‘health tourism’. Of the 640 respondents, 494 (77%) said they supported up-front charges for foreign visitors wanting to access primary care, with only 14% coming out against it.

Several respondents said UK citizens have to pay to access care abroad, so the same should apply here.

Dr Zishan Syed, a GP in Maidstone, Kent, says: ‘It is a sad reality but there is abuse of the NHS by foreign visitors. It is only fair they pay up front if they are not entitled to free care. The Government must stop anyone taking advantage of a system already under immense pressure.’

Dr Niall Finegan, a GP in Salford, puts it more bluntly: ‘We do not get free care abroad.’

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/your-practice/practice-topics/access/health-tourism-survey-suggests-gp-support-for-upfront-charges/20009307.fullarticle

ripening Mental health services have experienced big cuts to their budgets sadly and are very stretched.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't receive the treatment your dd needed, maybe it is worth writing a letter to your MP regarding this, and how the cuts have affected you as a family?

Scooby
Boy oh boy areyou randomly cross referencing statistics

34 million tourists in a year
of whom a miniscule proportion need to go to hospital
most of whom already have travel insurance which the NHS will bill later
and of the rest
most are EU so covered by the E111 reciprocal agreements

leaving 100 or so problem cases

Many a scam does exist though.

Many a scam does exist though.
Such as?

The NHS is different to most foreign health services in that it does not have an expensive bureaucracy devoted to chasing patient payments through the system.

Because the amount spent on treating foreigners is relatively small, it's probably true to say that there is unlikely to be much to gain from this. The exception might be Europeans with an EHIC card as there is already a reciprocal system in place.

FWIW it's not that easy for a foreign resident to get free treatment - I have paid for examinations that would be free for a UK resident (eg emergency eye check-up for my DS when his sight deteriorated during a summer trip to the UK).

Non UK tax payers do get charged to use the NHS.

Next?

Why are so many desperate to turn MN into the Daily Mail forum.

I have. The day the trust got wind they offered individual counselling. . That made it worse.

MH services are part of the NHS aren't they? Why should I regard them as something different? My family doesn't pay x% for operations, y% for GP care and z% for mental health. I'm not sure it is all about funding because the inefficient and incompetent manner in which this trust was behaving didn't make me feel they were using the resources they have efficiently or responsibly. They were disingenuous at best. Yes I am taking this all the way. Where would my DD be if I didn't have £1.5-£2k in my back pocket? Why should young people without articulate, professional parents behind them be allowed to deteriorate to suicide attempts before health professionals pull their fingers out? Where are the voices of those who work in MH? I only heard them whine about beingva 9-5 service. No one answered the phone when I called at 9. The tier two team never seemed to be in before 9.30. You can't provide a 9-5 service if staff aren't ready to start work at 9. Overworked and underfunded. I don't think so. Not round here at least.

I know of a person that brings people over from Africa and calls an ambulance to whisk them off to hospital to have some very costly ops.

Is that you Jeremy hunt?

So, oh wide OP, tell me which country has the best healthcare system?

No healthcare system is perfect. But the NHS is one of the better ones. Not perfect but no reason to completely turn it upside down and hand profit over to companies like virgin.

*wise

A section costs 3k, not 30k. Normal birth a bit under 1k.