Foreign patients have racked up a ‘staggering’ £6m treatment bill in Scotland’s hospitals.
Shock new figures show much taxpayers have had to shell out for tourists who have had everything from dental procedures to heart care and plastic surgery on the NHS.
Details provided by health boards show £4,366,934 of debt is currently outstanding as a result of treatment given to overseas visitors. More than 900 still owe cash after returning home while £2,130,570 has been written off as bad debt in the past six years.
It comes as the Scottish Government has recently been forced to spend millions of pounds bailing out health boards to plug their financial black holes.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: ‘The NHS can’t afford to write off millions of pounds, at a time when every penny is a prisoner and Scottish patients are facing unacceptable waiting times due to SNP mismanagement.
‘Whilst healthcare should be free at the point of use, there must be an appropriate mechanism in place so that treatment costs for overseas visitors can be recouped from their travel insurance provider or home state.
‘Hard-pressed Scots should not lose out because of this staggering bill. It’s vital SNP ministers prioritise all efforts to recover this money and redirect it to frontline NHS services.’
Anybody in Scotland may access services at a GP practice and receive A&E treatment without charge. But some visitors are supposed to pay for non-emergency care.
While GP services and emergency care are free for anyone, regardless of residency status, hospitals are supposed to identify chargeable patients and bill them upfront before receiving any other care, such as specialist appointments and planned procedures.
But the figures reveal overstretched hospitals often fail to do this in time, and instead issue invoices to patients afterwards – allowing them to leave the country without paying.
The true sum could be even higher as only patients who have been identified as having to pay are included – raising the prospect that more cash could be unaccounted for.
Scottish Labour’s Health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘Overseas visitors are expected to pay for most health care excluding emergency treatment, yet on the SNP’s watch it seems that too often they are not charged.
‘The SNP must ensure that health boards are reimbursed for the services they deliver to overseas visitors so that the money can be invested back into our struggling hospitals and clinics.
‘Scottish Labour will end the SNP’s culture of waste and make sure that taxpayers’ money goes to frontline services so that Scots get the treatment they need.’
Details of the money being racked up in bills for treating foreign patients comes as many health boards struggle with huge financial deficits.
Last month it emerged NHS Grampian owes the Scottish Government more than £90million.
It had to borrow £67.5m to balance its budget last year – the largest overspend of any NHS health board across Scotland.
John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpaying patients stuck on long waiting lists will be furious that foreign users of the NHS aren’t paying their bills. When Brits go abroad they will make sure they are insured and we ought to expect the same from visitors to this country.
‘Politicians must ensure they prioritise patients from our own country, and refuse non emergency treatment for foreigners while chasing down unpaid bills.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Scotland’s NHS manages healthcare for overseas visitors though an effective combination of regulations and guidance. Processes are in place to ensure that people pay for services when they are liable to do so, and in the vast majority of cases this happens.
‘Boards have a legal duty to recover the cost of NHS hospital healthcare provided to overseas visitors who are not eligible to receive NHS treatment at no charge.’