Patient proof of ID may be needed for NHS care

A Department of Health secretary has claimed that patients could have to show proof of identity to get some NHS care.

Speaking to the Public Accounts Committee, Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department of Health, said that the controversial move, in which trusts ask for two forms of ID before treatment, was already happening in some NHS trusts.

Committee chairwoman Meg Hillier raised concerns that some British residents might not have passports or other ID, saying that some of her own constituents had no photo ID.

Wormald stressed that the NHS has ‘a lot further to go’ in reclaiming money for treating foreign visitors, but emphasised that all pilot programmes were working slowly and carefully due to the controversial nature of the topic.

Visitors from the European Economic Area, which represents the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, are usually covered by agreements under which their home country pays for treatment.

However, official figures released earlier this year suggest that £674 million was charged to the UK government for the care of British citizens abroad in 2014-15 alone, with only £49 million charged for the care of EEA nationals in British hospitals.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of The Patients Association, said of the claim: “It is not acceptable to expect front-line staff, who are providing care and treatment, to have to check the identity of patients. There needs to be administrative systems in place throughout the NHS to ensure that, where money needs to be reclaimed from other countries that is dealt with and where people are not entitled to NHS care, they are directed to private health services. However, the practicalities of managing this must be thought through very carefully: the system may be very costly to administer.

“NHS staff already have huge pressures placed on their time, and they cannot take on any additional administrative burdens. We acknowledge that emergency care is available to everyone, whether entitled to NHS care or not and this must be communicated clearly so that no person falls foul of the system. It is essential to ensure that information about who is not entitled to free NHS care, is set out clearly in leaflets to minimise confusion for all patients.”