Hunt vows to make overseas patients pay up

Mr Hunt said the NHS is a “national health service – not an international one” after research suggested more than £500m could be raised if there was more efficient charging of foreign visitors and temporary migrants.

The report by Creative Research, on behalf of the Department of Health, says the NHS has “some of the most generous rules in the world”. At present only hospitals are required to charge for services and even then, emergency care is provided free of charge.

It concludes that the total cost of visitors and temporary migrants accessing NHS services is £1.9bn- £2bn but this includes some money that is already recovered.

The figures have been released ahead of the second reading of the Government’s Immigration Bill, which aims to stop migrants abusing public services and make it easier to remove people who should not be here.

Key measures in the Bill will see temporary migrants pay to access the NHS, while the appeals process against deportation is to be streamlined.

Ministers hope the levy on students or foreign workers who come to the UK for more than half a year will generate £200m a year.

The surcharge, combined with better recovery of costs and a deterrent on health tourism could save the health service “well over half a billion ponds”, a Department of Health spokeswoman said.

Mr Hunt has pledged to identify a “more efficient system” of claiming back costs and has also appointed Sir Keith Pearson to advise on visitor and migrant cost recovery.

He has also said he will be “introducing a simpler registration process to help identify earlier those patients who should be charged”.

Mr Hunt said the report shows there is a “serious problem”, adding: “Having a universal health service free at the point of use rightly makes us the envy of the world, but we must make sure the system is fair to the hard-working British taxpayers who fund it.”

But Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said there is “limited evidence to suggest that migrants or short-term visitors are consuming large parts of the NHS budget”.

He added: “The Government’s estimates are based on a number of assumptions that result in a figure significantly higher than previous estimates.

“GPs and other healthcare professionals do not have the capacity or the resources to administer an extended charging system that could require GPs to extensively vet every single patient when they register with a new practice.

“We must also be careful about creating a climate where some people are deterred from seeking treatment when they need it.”