London hospitals write off foreign patient bills of £7.6m in three years

Hospitals in London are having to write off huge debts owed by foreign patients, it emerged today.

Hillingdon and Newham University hospitals are among those forced to disregard large amounts owed after invoicing overseas patients. Altogether £7.6million has been written off by 33 trusts since 2009, according to details obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The total owed stands at £26million, of which £18.4million is actively being pursued by hospital accountants.

Trusts said it was difficult to chase debts once patients returned to their homes abroad. Hillingdon wrote off £335,000 out of £660,000 owed.

Newham lost £73,111 of its £358,086 bill. A spokesman said: "Outstanding monies are only written off once the full process has been exhausted.

"These include cases of death, failed asylum seekers or patients leaving the UK where it is not possible or is difficult to recover costs. However, where individuals leave the UK this is registered with the relevant embassies and if the individual returns to the UK these costs may be recovered at a later date."

Greek patients have fled London owing King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill nearly £2million in private fees but some hospitals have had greater success in making foreign patients pay. West Middlesex Hospital wrote off only three per cent of debts.

One senior doctor at a large London hospital said the outstanding debts could be much higher than official statistics show. "It is probably three or four times that figure," he claimed.

"These patients probably know someone in the UK. Very often they just take a plane and go to the first A&E department that deals with that type of condition and they know they will be treated because they are very sick."