NHS left with 'shocking' £30m bill by overseas patients

Overseas patients left the NHS with an unpaid bill of £30m in one year, an investigation has found.

Patients not entitled to free treatment on the health service owed £29,530,378 in 2015/16, according to data obtained by the Press Association under the Freedom of Information Act.

More than 120 NHS trusts were asked for details on overseas patients who were billed for NHS care and not covered by reciprocal arrangements with the UK.

Results from 104 trusts across England that responded suggested the unpaid bill is rising year on year.

The amount outstanding last year was equivalent to 0.03% of the annual NHS budget of £116bn.

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The most commonly used departments included maternity and general medicine - with just over £21m recovered from overseas patients in 2015/16.

Some trusts are still trying to chase patients for the money owed, while others have written off a portion as bad debt.

The true amount owed could be far higher as the figure does not include overseas patients who are never asked to pay - for example those who can provide a UK address.

Eight London trusts are owed more than £1m for 2015/16, while a further 21 across England are owed at least £100,000 - including hospitals in Liverpool, Birmingham, Oxford and Sheffield.

Barts and The London NHS Trust had the biggest bill last year, with £4,987,190 and is owed £10,340,322 for the last four years.

The trust managed to recover £6,754,000 last year.

St George's Hospital in Tooting, South London - which hit the headlines after pregnant health tourists went there to give birth - managed to recover £159,012 in 2015/16 but had an unpaid bill of £347,019.

In total, it is owed £2,550,059 from the last four years.

St George's said it expected the bill to rise "year on year" and estimated that overseas patients who do not pay actually cost in the region of £4m to £5m per year.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "It is shocking that so many costs are left unpaid by overseas patients using the NHS.

"If this money was reinvested in the NHS it could mean the difference between hiring more nurses or paying for additional equipment."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The NHS is a national - not an international - health service and we are determined to stamp out abuse of the system to ensure it remains free at the point of need in this country."