AIBU to think we shouldn't have got a bill for doctor appointment?

[Rainatnight]

DD, 2, had an outpatients hospital appointment in the summer for suspected asthma. Saw the consultant, we where packed off with a prescription, all fine.

We're in the UK, it was an NHS appointment based on a GP referral.

Today, I opened an invoice from the hospital for £330!

It's just an invoice, no explanation of why we're being charged.

I can ring in the morning and ask but wondered if anyone knew why this might have happened?

Have you queried it at all yet?

What a shame your thread got hijacked, Op.

I'm just trying to stop the consensus that the NHS is based on nationality
I think this misconception is understandable given that it is called National Health Service (not International, as we've been told thousands of times). Therefore non-nationals must be health tourists or abusers of the system in some way.
I actually had a quite educated guy (a retired solicitor) trying to persuade me that non-nationals don't pay National Insurance either, for the same reason.

For some official purposes, residence of children with foreign national parents is established via the child benefit claim.

But the GP doesn't ask if you are claiming CB?

But the GP doesn't ask if you are claiming CB?
GP is primary care, hospital consultants are secondary care. Rules of access are different.
No one asks you if you claim child benefit, the checks are occurring behind the scenes. Foreign parent + no trace of child benefit claim raises a suspicion that the child is not resident in the UK and therefore not entitled to the NHS care. Of course, if the foreign parent claims the benefit, they are then a benefit scrounger stealing taxpayers' money. :D

Therefore non-nationals must be health tourists or abusers of the system in some way.

And not all British nationals are eligible for NHS care. A point they always miss in the urge to "check people"

I haven't read the 7 pages since my last post last night but if you don't claim child benefit then your daughter won't be on the computer system and have a child reference number/NI Number therefore it will be assumed she's not entitled to free health Care. It's the same problem folks have that claim free child care that end up with the message child not found.

if you don't claim child benefit then your daughter won't be on the computer system and have a child reference number/NI Number therefore it will be assumed she's not entitled to free health Care

What computer system?

Lots of people in the UK don't claim CB

do you claim child benefit? If not it could be an explanation..

As PPs have said, child benefit is often part of behind the scenes checks. Certainly National Insurance numbers used to be linked to child benefit. I don't know how this works anymore now that not every child is automatically entitled. Might be worth looking into OP to make sure your child is on the system somewhere.

Sorry your thread was hijacked OP, I hope you get this sorted.

I don't claim child benefit. I earn too much! My DD has an NHS number and receives free care (including hospital admissions). I did get a bill following an A&E visit for some medications provided to me. The A&E in question was in England and it was the prescription charge. I'd assume in your case it is a mistake and call the hospital to confirm.

You can claim child benefit and opt out of payment. Means your child automatically gets their NI number when they turn 16 without having to call and ask for it. That's what we do

I promise I'll come back and update when I ring the hospital. It won't be till naptime, though.

Though now I've promised to update, I'll be more efficient about ringing than if I hadn't!

I'm just ignoring all the Irish stuff

For example when you apply for an EHIC card they use the data held by HMRC and DWP to verify you exist and send out your card. An NHS number is not proof you're entitled to care just that you have a number on their database.

Interested to find out

.

Right, update!

DD is incorrectly on their system as an 'overseas visitor'. No one knows how that happened. So they issued an invoice.

To prove she's not an overseas national, I need to send them photos of

• her passport or birth cert
• my partner's passport
• something with our address on, like a utility bill or bank statement.

I could apparently provide my passport instead of DP's, but because I'm an Irish national, I'd have to provide an additional document, such as a letter with my NI number on it, to prove 'the purpose of my being in the country', which makes me a bit sad.

I said it sounded pretty full on and asked was it standard to ask for all this, and the man said that 'they're really clamping down on this now'.

He was extremely nice about it all, incidentally.

Maybe your GP referral letter had something to do with that or the information you gave on your visit? Anyway looks like it's close to being sorted.

'esculated'? I don't get it

Doh! All the versions of that meme, and I chose the misspelt one!

@Rainatnight

The interesting thing is that nothing on their list (apart from your daughter's passport, but I assume that the majority of two year olds in the UK don't have a passport) actually proves her nationality. My children have British birth certificates and their father is British, and still they are not British and not even entitled to be. It sounds like a mess.

I know. It did seem quite muddled. They said at one point that it was about residency rather than nationality (which other posters have said), so I said, 'hang on, if that's the case, why is it more straightforward if I provide DP's UK passport, if it's not to do with nationality' but the nice man couldn't answer. It seemed very inconsistent.

Re residency vs nationality issue.

Nationality is important now because foreign nationals on some residency visa do have to pay an NHS fee to access free-at-point-of-service delivery.

So if we are nit-picking it isn't free in the same way it is to a British resident for some legally resident foreign citizens.

If I come back to live in the UK with my family my husband who is American will have to pay a yearly NHS fee for the first five years he is here.

It's not a lot - about £200 pounds a year - which is nothing in relation to the cost of the entire visa process which will cost about £8,000 to permanent residency and then another £1000 to apply for citizenship!

I don't think people realise how expensive it is for foreign nationals ouside the EU to move here.

Write to them and say that you are not an overseas citizen, you are not liable to pay, and that you want formal confirmation that the bill is withdrawn. If they want to check your child's status, they can go back to the GP who referred her. If they still ask for all your details, point out that they are the ones who are saying the bill is justified, therefore it is for them to prove it and they would obviously have to do so if they took this to court.