Visitors to the UK ‘should be charged for GP services’

The government has said that patients from outside the EU, with the exception of refugees and asylum seekers, should be charged for GP services, in addition to A&E and ambulance care, which they have already stated they intend to charge for.

New rules came into force in April, which requires non-EU citizens living in the UK for longer than six months to pay a “health surcharge”, which the Department of Health say has to date delivered savings of £100m.

The proposed changes, which would include these patients paying for GP services such as prescriptions, blood tests, lung function tests, dental treatment and physiotherapy, would save £500m a year. This is in addition to paramedic care, ambulance transport costs and A&E services.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said “We want to make sure that everyone makes a fair contribution to services, by extending charging to make sure visitors pay for the care they receive.

“This government was the first to introduce tough measures to clamp down on migrants accessing the NHS and these changes will recover up to £500m per year to put back into frontline patient care.”

Honorary secretary of the Royal College of GPs, Prof Nigel Mathers, said “One of the founding principles of the NHS is that healthcare is free at the point of need and limiting access would fundamentally change that.

“General practice is already under immense resource and workforce pressures so it is imperative that GPs and our teams do not find ourselves acting as immigration control and being burdened with even more bureaucracy.”

A spokesman from the BMA said “A doctor’s duty is to treat the patient in front of them, not to act as border guards. Any plans to charge migrants and short-term visitors need to be practical, economic and efficient.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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