Foreign patients who can pay for parts of NHS should, says hospital boss
There is “no incongruity” between supporting refugees and migrants while charging foreign patients for some care, the boss of a hospital trust has said.
Toby Lewis, chief executive of the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, said that overseas patients who could afford to pay for certain treatment should.
The boss of the trust, which runs Sandwell General and Birmingham City hospitals, was discussing arrangements around Brexit when he made the comments in his latest board report.
People from overseas are charged for usage of parts of the NHS. This does not include emergency treatment.
Critics have labelled the policy unfair and claim it could lead to treatment being delayed for some people unable to afford the charges.
Impact
Mr Lewis stressed the trust’s “huge” Health Overseas Professionals (HOP) programme, which aims to unearth medical talent in the refugee community, showed it was helping some of the poorest in society.
He said in the report: “Overseas visitor charging remains a priority and there is work to do in the year ahead with the transfer of all aspects of service recovery to one team, to make sure that we reduce our write-off.
“There is no incongruity between supporting refugees and migrants, while charging those able to make payments after travel.
"As a provider of a huge HOP programme we have written to ministers inviting them to visit the services and learn with us about the impact.”
Mr Lewis said the trust was continuing to monitor any changes as a result of Brexit, with the transition period due to come to an end on December 31.
