Today’s Sunday Times splashes on news that David Cameron is going to crack down on health tourism – that is, foreign nationals coming to Britain primarily to claim free treatment on the NHS. There have been anecdotal reports of this for some time, but the official figures suggest that there is no health tourism problem, because the number of foreign nationals treated amounts to less than 0.5 per cent of the NHS budget. Of course, the official figures wouldn’t show a problem. The scam involves people being marked down as eligible, even though they are ineligible. Statistics are, as so often, unreliable witness.
More reliable are those who work in the NHS and see the abuse with their own eyes every day. A fortnight ago, one of Britain’s foremost cancer specialists went on the record in the pages of The Spectator. I understand that the piece by Prof J.Meirion Thomas, who spoke out about health tourism, was widely read in Whitehall.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in