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Proof of ID may be needed for NHS care

This is coming from a senior civil servant, I imagine there will be a few interesting comments about this if it happened.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38060432

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Good. I wouldn't come to another country expecting free healthcare and demanding everything under the sun. Health tourists cost the NHS billions of pounds a year; I wouldn't turn up to California without health insurance and expect to be treated for free. I wouldn't go to Pakistan and expect to be treated for free when I'm not a national, have paid no tax in that country and would be clearly trying to get everything for nothing; this country has been far too soft for too long and it's time that something is done about it.
(edited 7 years ago)
Good it will be a popular move. It needs to be a very clear message though and people from other countries should not be allowed to enter unless they have medical insurance in place for the length of their stay.
Original post by Rock Fan
I imagine there will be a few interesting comments about this if it happened.


Why? Would there be controversy if a bank asked someone who is asking to withdraw or deposit money to prove they were entitled to do so? Is it controversial to ask benefit claimants to prove their identity?
I agree with Mark Porter. Health tourism is not what's threatening the NHS. It's not even a drop in the ocean.

What is making the NHS collapse is chronic underfunding and misuse of services by the general public. Framing health tourism as an issue is just a distraction from this truth.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Good bloke
Why? Would there be controversy if a bank asked someone who is asking to withdraw or deposit money to prove they were entitled to do so? Is it controversial to ask benefit claimants to prove their identity?


You know what some people are like, there will be a few who will slam the move if it happens. It is the way things are these days, personally I think this is a good move if this comes in.
This is good news. Maybe finally the UK is starting to get its act together, instead of being a soft touch.
Original post by markova21
This is good news. Maybe finally the UK is starting to get its act together, instead of being a soft touch.


Spot on.

The only thing I want to see is the resources to recruit people in hospitals and primary care whose job it is to check eligibility for care - it's not the job of a clinician to do this, and expecting the receptionists to simply bolt it on to their job is asking for trouble.
Reply 8
Avatar for fgn
fgn
1
Won't this increase the number of missed appointments?

Missed appointments cost £740m, health tourism £280m.
Original post by Etomidate
I agree with Mark Porter. Health tourism is not what's threatening the NHS. It's not even a drop in the ocean.

What is making the NHS collapse is chronic underfunding and misuse of services by the general public. Framing health tourism as an issue is just a distraction from this truth.


You are suggesting that the NHS should let those unentitled to free treatment to get away with it then?

More hospitals should make charges for missed appointments too.

These really are easy ways of clawing back significant sums (and if you think over £1 billion annually isn't significant then you are seriously misled).
Original post by fgn
Won't this increase the number of missed appointments?


How, exactly?
Original post by markova21
This is good news. Maybe finally the UK is starting to get its act together, instead of being a soft touch.


Free NHS treatment may only be available to British passport holders only after Brexit.

The government is also planning on preventing British born people from applying for EU passports after Brexit.
A lot of British born people with Southern Irish, or other EU ancestry or relatives have been trying to apply for passports from those places to maintain their EU citizenship and rights after Brexit.

The government will not allow such dual citizenship and may deny social security and free healthcare if a person has applied for a second passport.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Good bloke
You are suggesting that the NHS should let those unentitled to free treatment to get away with it then?

More hospitals should make charges for missed appointments too.

These really are easy ways of clawing back significant sums (and if you think over £1 billion annually isn't significant then you are seriously misled).


The exact figures are incredibly slippery and change wildly depending on the definitions that you choose to adopt.

My point is, the NHS has bigger problems to worry about.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Ambitious1999
The government is also planning on preventing British born people from applying for EU passports after Brexit.
A lot of British born people with Southern Irish, or other EU ancestry or relatives have been trying to apply for passports from those places to maintain their EU citizenship and rights after Brexit.

The government will not allow such dual citizenship and may deny social security and free healthcare if a person has applied for a second passport.


I did wonder how long it would be before someone would bring Brexit into this.
Original post by Etomidate

My point is, the NHS has bigger problems to worry about.


It does, but surely you aren't suggesting that adopting new administrative processes and educating its staff on this simple matter could not be done in addition to the other reforms? Some hospitals already do this, and plenty charge for missed appointments so it isn't impossible, to say the least, for the others to do likewise.

A common business dictum is always to go for the low-hanging fruit first - in other words, do easy things that mean useful savings, especially if they don't compromise bigger gains. This is a clear example of that in action.
Two forms of ID? This is gonna be complicated for some people e.g. what if you have a driving license on you but not your passport.

I mean I agree with what they're tyring to do but this is going toc atch a lot of ordinary people out as well, unfairly.
Reply 16
Avatar for fgn
fgn
1
Original post by Good bloke
How, exactly?


No ID, forgotten ID, wrong ID...........................
Original post by Ambitious1999
Free NHS treatment may only be available to British passport holders only after Brexit.

The government is also planning on preventing British born people from applying for EU passports after Brexit.
A lot of British born people with Southern Irish, or other EU ancestry or relatives have been trying to apply for passports from those places to maintain their EU citizenship and rights after Brexit.

The government will not allow such dual citizenship and may deny social security and free healthcare if a person has applied for a second passport.


The Irish Government has allowed people born outside the island or Ireland to an Irish parent or grandparent to apply for Irish citizenship for decades. My son has an Irish passport because his late father and all his father's side of the family are Irish, all born and living in the Republic. Don't see how the British government can stop the Irish Government allocating Irish citizenship to whoever qualifies for it. It's none of their business. Many people including Irish/British have dual citizenship. People, if they are born of Nationals from two different countries have dual citizenship. Can't see how the British Government has the right to withhold the citizenship from a law abiding person when every other country allows it.
Original post by fgn
No ID, forgotten ID, wrong ID...........................


You have clearly failed to realise that the ID is not necessary to receiving treatment on a given day, just to not receiving a bill. If you cannot then or later prove you are entitled to free treatment then you get a bill; if you can then you can expect not to receive one.
Original post by Ambitious1999
Free NHS treatment may only be available to British passport holders only after Brexit.

The government is also planning on preventing British born people from applying for EU passports after Brexit.
A lot of British born people with Southern Irish, or other EU ancestry or relatives have been trying to apply for passports from those places to maintain their EU citizenship and rights after Brexit.

The government will not allow such dual citizenship and may deny social security and free healthcare if a person has applied for a second passport.


You are a consistently rich vein of ill-informed nonsense, aren't you? (1) Nobody applies for an EU passport, they apply for a passport for the state of which they are a citizen, and (2) the UK government does allow dual citizenship.

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