Ploys of health tourists who exploit NHS

The scale of NHS tourism is revealed today. Letters from doctors and hospital managers expose the methods used by foreigners to obtain free treatment.

A string of NHS staff speak out about the problem for the first time, detailing how visitors avoid paying for care.

Among the practices revealed are:

In another example of how resources are being drained, it is revealed that nurses are regularly forced to escort failed asylum seekers home if they are too sick to travel alone. Health chiefs admit there is little hope of recovering the cost of plane tickets.

The letters were sent by NHS staff in response to a public consultation on how to tackle health tourism.

Details of the responses come days after doctors at the British Medical Association's annual conference claimed up to one in 10 patients is fraudulently claiming NHS care.

Doctors agree that foreigners should get free treatment in an emergency, but say many seek free care for longterm conditions.

Under guidelines introduced in April, overseas patients seeking NHS hospital treatment must prove they qualify. Staff are supposed to question them when they turn up in hospital.

Anyone who fails to satisfy the criteria is expected to pay in advance. But many NHS staff say they will not grill patients in clear need of medical help.

Several hospital trusts say the only solution is identity cards, or compulsory medical insurance for non-EU citizens visiting the UK.