Regular readers will know that I've been very worried about the future of our wonderful NHS. I think our new Minister of Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting above with Keir Starmer, should take note.
The Freedom of Information Act has recently revealed the serious extent that Health Tourism is having on the NHS finances. If any political party wants to help the NHS, they should really take this problem seriously.
I often speak of the terrible waste of money in our National Health Service. We have far too many overpaid 'managers' who seem to spend money like water. And we all know that the system is being hugely abused by foreigners who fly into the UK specifically for free treatment.
We are now told that Health Tourism is costing the NHS a minimum of £100,000 a day. It has become a running joke in Southern A & E depts that foreign nationals turn up direct from Gatwick or Heathrow, complete with suitcases and travel bags. Most don't speak English and simply point at what they need to have 'fixed'.
Why doesn't one of those expensive bloody 'managers' tell them they have to pay-up first; a simple triage system at the A & E front door could stop these tourists at once. I've had to pay up-front in France even though I lived there; why shouldn't these people who visit England have to do the same?
There was a very famous case back in 2016, when a Nigerian woman called Priscilla (above) came direct from the airport to have quadruplets. The births and her after-care cost the NHS £500,000; not one penny of which was ever repaid. She really should have been detained until she, or her government, paid-up. She was just one of thousands, or tens of thousands, who come each year. One imagines that Priscilla simply flew home to Nigeria again once she was given the go-ahead. No wonder she's smiling in the photo!
I'm informed that the missing moneys could have paid for 5,500 Student Doctors, or 6,000 Nurses, or 30,000 Hip Replacements. The new Labour Government, and Wes Streeting in particular, may like to tackle this problem.
It's all very nice to say what a liberal and welcoming country we are, but when we know that our liberalism is being abused on such a massive scale, and our dear NHS apparently on the verge of collapse, isn't it time to say enough is enough!
The propaganda about the Tories ruining the NHS was a good vote winner for Labour, but the reality is that the Tories were spending record amounts on health amidst striking doctors, incompetent managers, and unbelievable waste.
Pull your bloody fingers out!
Having seen some of the NHS from the inside, another serious issue is with the amount of time spent in meetings - not just the realms of managers but considerable numbers of clinical staff who one would have thought would have been better employed in actually attending to patients. And nothing ever seems to be achieved through all of those meetings either.
ReplyDeleteIn the few times I've visited hospitals, all the nurses seemed to be gathered around computers filling in forms.
DeleteI'm glad I never had to work for the government. It seems no matter what they touch becomes both very expensive and inefficient.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if they didn't send the quadruplets back with British passports.
There is no real need for any nationalised Co to be efficient. Thy know that more tax-payer money will soon come their way.
DeleteMakes you want to pull your hair out doesn't it? The waste of time in the NHS is horrendous, even down to the tiniest thing. I once saw a nurse go back to the desk not less than 4 times to get new working batteries for a thermometer as each time they were duff ones. Why oh why don't they just have rechargeable ones which can sit on the charger when not in use?
ReplyDeleteMy thermometer doesn't have a battery; I just sick it in my mouth.
DeleteHow many more admin staff and managers would be needed to collect and monitor the payment system? More layers of non clinical departments.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention all the consultants and meetings involved.
DeleteYou can't win.
DeleteYour post is another illustration of the awful mess the NHS is in. The “recent” disclosure under the freedom of information request is not really that recent. It is almost eight months old.
ReplyDeleteAnother mess to address that the current government has on their very long to do list.
I also think there should be a change to the system. The government subsidizes medical degrees. Doctors do graduate with a significant amount of student debt but if they decide to leave the country, to Australia, for example, they don’t have to pay back the debt. Thus under the current system England is paying for training doctors that are immediately leaving to go to sunnier climates.
They should be under contract to work for at least 5 years for the NHS before emigrating.
DeleteGetting our money back from these visitors is never easy. You cannot make them pay at the gate as it were. And retrieving the money through the courts may itself be very expensive and possibly fruitless if the spongers have flown home. Also simply finding postal addresses can prove impossible. As a practice nurse, my wife twice met men who had just arrived from Somalia. She was their first point of contact with the NHS and both of them were HIV positive and knew it before they left home.
ReplyDeleteIn which case I think they should be refused medication/surgery/etc, and told to go to a private hospital.
DeleteI like your idea. Or we could say to them - have you got proof of medical insurance ? Or - to be treated by the NHS you must have a suitable deposit to be paid into this particular fund. Without it there can be no treatment.
DeleteSomething, anything, it can't go on as it is. As I said in my title; they're having a laugh.
DeleteThe Conservatives didn't fix it either, but, hey!, never miss an opportunity to knock Labour. Would the French deny treatment and let them die at the hospital door?
ReplyDeleteDid I say that the Conservatives had done a better job? I criticise where criticism is warranted, and that includes the lot of them.
DeleteWith respect Cro, I disagree. The title “are they ‘avin a larf”, the photo of Starmer and Streeting, the reference to the “recent” freedom of info, and propaganda that the Conservatives had ruined the NHS…
DeleteNah reads like yet another “socialism” bashing post to me.
If anything I think Labour has been bashing the Tories for the past 14 years. Some times it was warranted, but mostly not.
DeleteOf course they have, that is the roll of the opposition. I would expect the Conservatives will “bash” Labour for the next few years.
DeleteOnly if warranted!
DeleteIt is already unwarranted, as with the winter fuel allowance, which was not unreasonably discontinued as a universal payment. There will be all hell loose about the budget, without any ideas of alternative ways to raise the money needed. This is what I find most irritating, on BOTH sides, moaning about problems without any alternative constructive solutions.
DeleteAn untaxed universal payment!
DeleteThis all sounds very grim. Much comes down to priorities, budget and finances. What will Ms. Reeves do?
ReplyDeleteWe all wait in horror! One thing is for certain, that we'll all suffer. When have the Socialist ever been different.
Delete