£1/4m spent on foreigners

A London hospital has spent more than £250,000 treating 71 people who do not live in Britain.

The Evening Standard can reveal that Newham General Hospital was duped into providing treatment over three months to foreigners not entitled to free care while it was struggling to cope with waiting lists.

The bill is the most dramatic evidence yet of so-called health tourism on the NHS in London.

It represents a fraction of the true cost of treating overseas visitors, thousands of whom are never caught. Managers at Newham have now drafted in a team to track down overseas patients who exploit the system.

A secret internal report seen by the Standard exposes the rocketing cost of treating illegal immigrants. Managers investigated the backgrounds of patients from September to November last year. They found 71 illegal immigrants had received treatment, at a cost of £251,000. Taking other factors into account they estimate an annual loss of £772,000.

The breakdown of costs for the period included £59,000 for 11 heart operations; £24,600 for outpatient treatment ( 18 patients); £55,000 for inpatient treatment (19 patients); £38,000 for intensive care ( three patients) and £43,400 for 20 maternity patients.

Free care is only available to foreigners if they have been granted asylum status or are resident for more than six months a year. Casualty treatment is free.

Of 514 foreigners who visited the hospital between January 2002 and March this year, more than half - 234 - were ineligible for free care; 146 of them had expired passports; 21 had forged passports and 11 had forged asylum certificates.

Managers say staff face regular bullying, cajoling or deception from some patients.

Staff said they face daily threats and abuse, leaving many so scared they do not challenge them. One said: "You just try to deal with people and they shout at you, they threaten you, they say you are stopping them from getting their rights.

Once, I got told I was 'going to get it'. You just think 'Why go to the bother to stop them?' It's not worth this hassle."

The report says: "The overseas patients are aware of the NHS culture and are extremely cunning in their tactics."

Newham has one of the highest proportions of asylum seekers in the country. It is the third most deprived borough in England and has a higher rate of tuberculosis than India.

Newham General, which was awarded just one star out of three in the most recent government ratings, has the highest vacancy rate for registered nurses in the capital.

Today, the chief executive of Newham Healthcare Trust, Kathy Watkins, said she hoped to recover the £250,000 but admitted it "is not yet certain".

The report identified a catalogue of weaknesses in its admissions system. It included inadequate vetting, absence of a dedicated overseas and confusion over who pays for care. The report says: "The prospective overseas patient thrives on uncertainty by officers."