But while it doesn't happen, the Government can keep using the health tourist excuse. If all Hospital Trusts could recoup the costs of treating health tourists from the Overseas Aid budget (the Aid budget pays on receipt of each claim, and it is up to them to try to get their money back) then there would be no NHS losses. Then it would quickly become obvious that health tourism was a false villain.
Jim
Really? Other similar countries manage to find rather more money to spend on health care than the UK does, on a per head basis.
True. And while we're at it, lets stop treating sportsmen like boxers and rugby players that get injured when playing their game. And saving those from mountains etc who are stupid enough to venture out in bad weather.
And as for those who need health care through over eating, drinking or smaoking...
I'ts NOT a tiny drop though especailly if say you need help and you are leg galy and you nede help of a few £1000 a month for mental health for ON E person even a £1000 is a massive amount for them to find. How much does ONE hospital bed cost is that not a drop in the ocean ? Take all the drops out of the ocean and you don;t have an ocean.
What it really means is that administrators whgile employing more and more for higher and higher saleries just can't do the job.
So we can give even more to health tourists ?
In the meantime,
Yes more on admin , same thing happening here. The more we spend on admin the less on teaching.
Hospital closures can be read in any local newspaper. Budgets are published and can be checked. I have a close relative who works for the NHS. When staff leave they are not replaced.
The check on if and how you intend to pay takes seconds in Dutch and German hospitals.
They're becoming more expensive because the pharmaceutical companies like the councils and governments are corporations that MUST make greater profits year on year. Nothing to do with "research" but everything to do with corporate profit.
Thick end of £1000 a day.
Care to speculate how much extra work it would be to check the eligibility of every single person who uses the NHS at any time? Do you expect the hospital administrator to do this himself?
Of course like with many things it would be easy to check on those respectable types who know they will be asked. It's those who perhaps are picked up off the street and or don't speak good English that may be rather more difficult. Or those who set out to defraud.
you assume there's just ONE hospital administrator per hosital. Of course it depends on how you check eligibility, how do they check you i f you go abroad and want medical treatment ?
friends just came back from las palma they needed an insurance form. I thought everyone in or from the UK on going abraod had to sort that out i f you want 'free' treatment. So how do they do this abroad they don't seem to have the same problems do they ?
Why do american express offer a free translation service surley that is a f ree service for everyone like it is here.
actually. they didn't say that they *must* pay for it
they said that if it was decided that it would be offered, it was the HNS, and not local councils that should pay
but the door is still open for TPTB within the HNS to decide that it isn't cost effective and not offer it.
Until the ruling the NHS could have decided that it was a cost effective drug whilst simultaneously passing the bill to someone else.
tim
only if you are a local
if you are a foreigner you can be left in the waiting room for an hour whilst they decide whether your claimed "insurance" will pay or not.
BTDTGTTS (more than once)
tim
"You're foreign, go away!"
Something like that.
In most other European countries the non-locals who don't automatically qualify by birth can be singled out for extra checks because they don't speak the local lingo (FSVO).
That doesn't mean that there isn't a few false positives or false negatives, but the numbers are much lower.
tim
I remember someone in finance in Maggie's days saying you can throw as much money as you like at the NHS and it will just soak it up with no visible improvement.
Hasn't changed in over 30 years then?
On my Parish Council is someone who is an NHS trust manager. the word "Budget" or "spend within your means" isn't in her vocabulary.
Nothing has changed. Politicians still tell lies :-)
There's signs of corruption at the top of some NHS Trusts.
Indeed, The former IT Manager at our nearest Hospital Trust has lust been given a 10 years sentence for theft via false contracts.
Who says that he is VAT registered?
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