Crawley MP, Henry Smith, has welcomed measures outlined by the Health Secretary today aimed at tackling ‘health tourism’.  Following the introduction of his Private Members’ Bill last year, the Health Secretary welcomed the initiative and pledged to take substantive, appropriate action.

Commenting earlier today, Henry said:

“The measures outlined in my Private Members’ Bill last year were aimed at ensuring outstanding debts owed by foreign nationals who receive treatment through the NHS are properly recovered."

“Having met on a number of occasions with the Health Secretary, his officials and other co-signatories of my Bill, Jeremy Hunt assured me that he was going to explore various different options to help stem the abuse of our National Health Service by some foreign nationals."

“The precise cost to the British taxpayer cannot be determined because, as demonstrated through my own research through Freedom of Informational requests issued to all NHS health trusts last year, the vast majority to primary and secondary health facilities do not record such information.  However, estimates from the Department of Health suggest that a failure to currently audit the cost of foreign nationals seeking treatment on the NHS as equating to at least £200 million."

“Today’s move will ensure that hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ pounds lost through outstanding debts will be returned and re-invested towards ensuring a better quality of health service for British patients."

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