To think if you don't pay into the NHS system you can't expect to be treated for free?

[oljam]

I have a neighbour who's daughter in law has just given birth in a London hospital. The thing is my neighbour married a Serb when she was in her 20's (60 odd now) has never worked in the UK and has never paid NHS contributions or tax. She doesn't even live there now, and is constantly slagging off the UK.

She has a 30 year old son, who holds a British passport, however he has spent all his life in Serbia and has never worked in the UK, his wife is Serbian and does not hold a British passport. About 7 weeks before the baby was due they travelled to the UK because they wanted the baby to born there. The first hospital they went to in Kingston upon Thames I think, told them that because she didn't have a British passport they would have to pay £5,000 for the privilege of giving birth in a UK hospital. So they went to another hospital, and I believe forgot to mention her passport status. They've recently had their baby and they're about to scoot off back to Serbia just after Christmas, so no chance of getting any money off them.

Now I also live abroad and pay the country I live in for my medical treatment, I don't expect it to be any different. My neighbour was so indignant that her son had been expected to pay, but I ask why not, neither he nor his mother have contributed anything financially to our NHS system why should he expect it all for nothing? But then when I say this to her, that just gets her into a racist rant about immigrants.

I think what has pissed me off is this woman takes every opportunity to slag off the UK, the health service etc, having never really experienced it, but it's fine to deliver her grandchild and then for her son to bugger off back to Serbia before being hit with any bills.

So am I being unreasonable?

[TheBlonde]

YANBU
I thought of this when I saw the thread that ggirlsbells mentioned

[IsawKIMIkissingSantaClaus]

Oljam, you are not in the least unreasonable, these people and people like them are parasites and should not be treated without paying.

[ABudafulSightWereHappyTonight]

The reason they may have wanted to have the baby in the UK could be to do with passport issues. The wife may well have an EU passport - or have come in on a 3 month visa or something.

You say the father has a UK passport. Depending on where the father was born, the child is not automatically entitled to a UK passport. If the father was born in the UK I THINK the child is entitled to a UK passport but any child of that child is not. They would have to be born in UK. So it may be an issue that they wanted the UK passport.

[oljam]

I think you'll find that the people being shipped over to Spain and France for treatment are not paid for by those countries. Being EU countries the UK has a reciprocal agreement with them for up to 70% of the fees and if the Government are shipping them out I'd guess they'd cover the whole cost. I promise you, if I can't prove the necessary paperwork to my doctor here before the consultation, he'll grab the 21 euro consultation fee out of my hand before he'll even look at me.

The buggers also take 45% of my income off me to cover their social system too, so has a much bigger investment than the NHS. However, it is a fab system and if I'm going to get sick I would prefer to do it over here.

[NappiesGaloriaInExcelsis]

" By NadineHumbug on Wed 12-Dec-07 23:35:32
you are not being unreasonable.

My sister is a Nursing Manager at a Manchester hospital the conversation I had with her the other day was most depressing. Ward closures, no staff, they needed 6 beds for cancer patients but they didn't have them or the staff to look after them so they were turned away. No money you see, maybe this is one of the reasons why? "

yep, i bet thats it. i bet this couple of educated people coming over at great personal expense for unknown reason are the main cause of all that awfulness. the shameful mismanagement and shocking administrative and beaurocratic waste is probably not really anything much to do with it

[NappiesGaloriaInExcelsis]

i had hospital treatment while living in ibiza- for nothing more than my own excesses. never paid for it. wasnt even asked.

[NappiesGaloriaInExcelsis]

my grandad knows quite a few retired british people who now live in france. have the time of their lives with the healh service over there which kicks arse compared to ours.

[DeePandcrisPandeven]

So it was....and so deserving of a treat..isn't the blush emocion really cute?

Quattro - my father retired to Spain, and I don't think it's that simple - there are contributory tests and 'residencia' tests to be applied - as I recall.

[Quattrocento]

YABU, I think.

All this NHS tourism stuff seems a bit Daily Mailish to me.

What about the fact that we export thousands of elderly (therefore less fit) people to France and Spain every year? What a burden they must be on those countries' healthcare services. Just because they paid taxes in England, they EXPECT to be treated for free.

[VVVExcitedAboutChristmasQV]

You told me it was your birthday

[DeePandcrisPandeven]

so do I.....but that was research.....

[VVVExcitedAboutChristmasQV]

I recall speaking to you once whilst working there

[DeePandcrisPandeven]

leave that chat line out of it QV. It's all over now and you are an honest woman...

[VVVExcitedAboutChristmasQV]

HAve to say, having worked where I was working last year, some of the telephone enquiries were quite ....

[DeePandcrisPandeven]

so needs to have a visa for this purpose....

all Foreign Nationals are either refugees, asylum seekers, visa holders, EU nationals (or EEA), or illegal immigrants/overstayers.

it is possible, yes, but it still reads

[NadineHumbug]

you are not being unreasonable.

My sister is a Nursing Manager at a Manchester hospital the conversation I had with her the other day was most depressing. Ward closures, no staff, they needed 6 beds for cancer patients but they didn't have them or the staff to look after them so they were turned away. No money you see, maybe this is one of the reasons why?

[welliemum]

Am very against the idea of health tourism, but but but.

If I lived in a country where I knew I was likely to have an overmedicalised birth, be separated from my baby, forced to feed on a 4 hour routine, etc etc etc..... I suspect I'd move heaven and earth to go elsewhere so that I could do things the way I believe is right for me. The stakes are so high when it comes to childbirth.

If that's the case for couple in the OP, I don't agree with what they've done, but I don't blame them either.

[VVVExcitedAboutChristmasQV]

SHe didnt have a British passport pan, she'd be classed as a tourist, visiting family, no?

[francagoestohollywood]

ah the toco ! (didn't even see one whe gave birth to dd... here and without being asked for my passport. we pay our taxes here though)

[DeePandcrisPandeven]

am also a bit curious about the immigration status of this couple. She doesn't have a passport, or a right of abode, and entered the country approx 30 weeks pregnant. As I am reading it, she doesn't have any entry right, unless seeking asylum, or on a visa for a particular purpose ( I don't think they give them out with "to give birth" stamped on it.).
And he has a passport, but probably not a right of abode.......

just lots of things don't add up, and perhaps your neighbour isn't telling the entire truth. is this poss??

and why am I exercising grey matter on this at all????

[paulaplumpbottom]

I haven't read all the post but I have nevre, not one time, been asked for my passport. I don't hold a British passport

[VVVExcitedAboutChristmasQV]

Cardiotocograph. Monitors baby's heartbeat (and contractions).

[francagoestohollywood]

yes, def

[VVVExcitedAboutChristmasQV]

Well, not so much curable as they are maintainable. Which is the problem.

[francagoestohollywood]

what are ctg monitors?