This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
£1 million to help NHS reclaim overseas debts
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced plans to expand the NHS’s existing team of cost-recovery experts, backed by £1 million of new funding.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has announced an expansion of a team of cost-recovery experts dedicated to working with trusts, first established in 2018. The expansion will help the NHS to reclaim outstanding debts from overseas visitors who are required to pay for their care.
These experts will work with existing cost-recovery managers in NHS trusts to: provide additional time and human resource to help identify patients who should be charged, easing the administrative burden and speeding up the process; ensure the rules and exemptions are universally understood and consistently implemented in hospitals across the country, including making clear that urgent treatment should never be withheld; and help improve the reporting of income and debt collection, ensuring chargeable tourists pay debts in full.
Only people who are ordinarily resident in the UK are eligible for free care, with non-EEA visitors required to pay a health surcharge when they apply for a visa to live temporarily in the UK. NHS rules state that trusts must never withhold treatment from patients who require urgent healthcare while they are in the UK, even if they cannot afford to pay.
The NHS has already made progress in ensuring patients not ordinarily resident in the UK are identified and charged appropriately for access to NHS services, recovering more than £1.3 billion since 2015.
Hancock said: “Our beloved NHS is renowned around the world for providing high quality health care and it is able to do so thanks to the valuable contributions made by hardworking taxpayers - so it is only fair we ask overseas visitors to pay their way as well.
“Today, we’re backing the NHS and giving them the support and the tools they need to ensure the rules are applied fairly and consistently. This new drive will help recoup millions in unclaimed funds for our NHS which can go back into frontline patient care, so the NHS can be there for all of us when we need it most.”
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