Health tourism gap costs us £700m a year: We pay EU countries £15 for every £1 we get back for NHS care for foreign patients

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The so-called ‘health tourism gap’ between the amount the NHS collects from EU patients and the total hospitals on the continent receive from Britain has soared to almost £700million (file picture) 

Hospitals’ failure to claw back the cost of treating Europeans is costing taxpayers millions of pounds a week, figures suggest.

The so-called ‘health tourism gap’ between the amount the NHS collects from EU patients and the total hospitals on the continent receive from Britain has soared to almost £700million.

It means the UK is now paying out £15 for the healthcare costs of Britons who fall ill abroad for every £1 it gets back for the NHS treatment of European visitors.

The Prime Minister and Health Secretary have pledged to introduce tough new measures to recoup an extra £500million from foreigners annually by 2017/18.

Both GPs and hospitals will be given incentives to identify non-British users of the NHS and payment procedures will be made easier.

However, the latest Department of Health statistics indicate there is a long way to go. Released following a Freedom of Information request, they show that in 2013/14, British taxpayers handed £749.8million to European governments to pay for the care of UK citizens abroad.

This has risen by £100million from £649.3million just a year before.

But in the same period, the NHS managed to collect only £50.3million from European countries to pay for the care of their citizens who needed treatment here.

This is an increase on the £32million total the year before – but the number is still dwarfed by money going the other way. Ministers believe part of the problem is that hospitals do not ask enough questions to identify patients who should be paying for treatment.

Figures which emerged at the weekend show the NHS is still chasing at least £62million of unpaid bills for foreigners’ care.

One London hospital trust alone – King’s College – is owed almost £18million from overseas patients.

One single patient at a different trust racked up an unpaid bill of more than £420,000. Others owe more than £100,000 for treatments including dialysis, bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy, according to The Sunday Times.

Health minister Dan Poulter was even photographed with a new mother from Zimbabwe who is still being pursued for a £3,000 bill.

Two years ago, cancer specialist Professor J Meirion Thomas warned many foreigners were travelling to Britain for expensive treatment and then leaving without paying.

He said the NHS was also becoming the ‘world’s maternity wing’.

Last night Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said: ‘We’re fortunate to have one of the only truly free at the point of need health services in the world.

‘But we are not the International Health Service, it’s the National Health Service. This is an issue which needs to be addressed.’

Ukip health spokesman Louise Bours said: ‘It is clear from these figures that hospitals in this country are way too lax in chasing up payment for health treatment for EU citizens.’

Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, right, have pledged to introduce tough new measures to recoup an extra £500million from foreigners annually by 2017/18

Part of the gap is due to the fact that so many British pensioners retire to the continent.

There may also be more tourists from Britain travelling to mainland Europe than the other way round. But there are more than a million migrant workers from the EU here, against far fewer Britons employed in other European countries.

Under EU arrangements, UK citizens can be treated by other nations’ health services and the bill is sent back to Britain.

In theory, these European nations should also be billed when their citizens are treated by the NHS.

In 2013/14, the UK paid Ireland £246million for treating Britons who fell ill there. Only £22million came back the other way. Some £250million was paid to Spain but only £3.2million came back.

France received £152million but returned just £7million.

Italy got £6.2million and sent back £1.1million, while Greece collected £8.9million and returned £400,000. A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘We want international visitors to feel welcome to use the NHS, provided they pay for it – just as families in the UK do through their taxes.

‘Our plans will help recoup up to £500million a year by 2017/18.’

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Emergency medical treatment is one thing, but taxpayers cannot be expected to pick up the bill for expensive longer-term treatment for tourists.

‘Our authorities must do better to claw back the amount owed by visitors.'  

JOKING WITH HEALTH MINISTER, MOTHER WHO STILL OWES US £3,000  

Zimbabwean-born Caroline Nyadzyao, who is being chased for £3,000 by the NHS after giving birth in a Norfolk hospital, meets with health minister Daniel Poulter 

Smiling alongside a health minister at a Norfolk maternity unit in 2013, this new mum is still being chased for the £3,000 it cost the NHS to help her give birth.

Zimbabwe-born Caroline Nyadzayo’s unpaid bill is part of the £62million cost of ‘health tourism’ to Britain.

The 34-year-old, an advertising executive in Africa, was pictured with health minister Daniel Poulter on his visit to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital when the maternity suite was reopened.

The mum said she complained to Mr Poulter about the charge and said she was under huge pressure to pay it. But Mr Poulter has reportedly said he does not remember being told that.

Miss Nyadzayo, now in Harare, told the Sunday Times it was ‘unfair ’ she was still being pursued, because the baby’s father is British.

She said: ‘I know the system may believe I travelled to abuse the NHS benefits, but... I just wanted to have my first baby as a family and surely everyone is entitled to that?’

The couple were questioned about the birth when they entered Britain at Norwich Airport in October 2013. However, they were released when they agreed they would be paying for it.

Miss Nyadzayo said: ‘I was told because I was 31 weeks’ pregnant it was likely I was going to use the NHS to my advantage. We said we would pay for the birth. But we had no idea how much we’d be charged.’