"Health tourism" could be costing the taxpayer millions

Hospitals have complained that a steady stream of foreign nationals are arriving in the UK with serious medical conditions that need urgent treatment.

Now the Department of Health has launched a clampdown and says that in future, failed asylum seekers and business travellers will no longer be eligible for free care.

In future, foreign nationals will have to prove that they have a work contract in the UK before free care becomes available.

The Conservatives say the proposals do not go far enough.

In some cases, business travellers to the UK are even bringing their partners and children specifically to get them treated for free.

Commentator

Health Minister John Hutton recounted one instance this year when a foreign sports commentator arriving to cover Wimbledon was accompanied by his seriously-ill son.

He took him to the accident and emergency department of a London hospital and asked for free treatment.

The whole system is absurd. Dr Liam Fox, Shadow Health Secretary

He told the BBC: "We don't have any concrete figures about how much this is costing the NHS.

"NHS trusts say there are a number of loopholes, the rules aren't very clear, and also, they aren't very fair either to UK citizens or the taxpayer."

He said that eligibility rules which stop British ex-pats receiving free treatment on their return were also being changed.

Proof card

However, Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox said that the NHS should introduce "entitlement cards" which would have to be produced to prove eligibility for free treatment.

He said that the NHS was increasingly seen as a "soft touch".

He said: "The whole system is absurd.

"British citizens who have contributed over the years will not be allowed to use the NHS for free, when a citizen of France or Spain can."

Currently, doctors are already expected to ask foreign nationals to prove they are entitled to NHS benefits.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Evan Harris warned the government against trying to blame foreigners for the problems of the NHS.

"The reason that people aren't getting good service is because of the failure of the government to provide long-term investment, stability and capacity building, and not the fault of foreigners," he said.

"The government's proposals are simply an attempt to play to the extremist agenda, scapegoating foreigners and asylum seekers for Britain's woes."

Doctors' reaction

The British Medical Association said it shared the government's concern about the cost of people receiving NHS care when they had no right to it.

However, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, BMA head of science and ethics, said: "As doctors we are more concerned with human suffering and how to relieve it.

"It is important that any government measures to clamp down on health tourism ensure that emergency life-threatening interventions can continue to take place.

"It is also vital that doctors are able to treat people who have transmissible illnesses, including TB.

"The decision about whether healthcare is urgent must rest with doctors.

"If doctors believe there is an urgent need to treat they will do so and ask questions later - it would be unethical not to do this."

Dr Nathanson said the BMA was particularly concerned about the health of failed asylum seekers awaiting deportation.

"These people have no access to money and it would be totally unjustifiable to leave them suffering from chronic illnesses, including mental health problems, for unspecified periods of time."

Pauline Lewis, of the Overseas Visitors' Action Support group, said the proposals would help prevent abuses of the system.

Ms Lewis, who works at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust in south-west London, said they saw several cases every month of pregnant women who had flown to Britain just to have their children here free before returning home.

This ran up costs of about �1,500 per birth, she said.

"It is this type of abuse we would like to be able to stop."