The Myth of the British National Health Servi

[Gandalf]

Both my father in law and sister have spent a lot of time in hospital over the last 12 months, and yes it isn't ideal but all in all the NHS was really good and the treatment excellent.
If we stop treating foreign people who come over to take advantage of the free health care , then the service would be better for the people who pay into the system.

Health tourists is one big suck on the NHS.

You shouldn't be allowed to use it unless you have a national insurance number or a valid working visa. That would soon cut out people going there as medical tourists. Otherwise, visitors should have private travel insurance and pay upfront. Do people really just go to the UK and get expensive treatments as tourists? Mindboggling.

[Beanz]

Both my father in law and sister have spent a lot of time in hospital over the last 12 months, and yes it isn't ideal but all in all the NHS was really good and the treatment excellent.If we stop treating foreign people who come over to take advantage of the free health care , then the service would be better for the people who pay into the system.

Health tourists is one big suck on the NHS.

You shouldn't be allowed to use it unless you have a national insurance number or a valid working visa. That would soon cut out people going there as medical tourists. Otherwise, visitors should have private travel insurance and pay upfront. Do people really just go to the UK and get expensive treatments as tourists? Mindboggling.

It's not quite that simple. As an EU citizen you would have the right to similar free treatment on other EU countries. It is obviously a problem but as usual it's nowhere near as binary as most want it to be. Oversimplification seems to have become the new starting point for debate.

[Gandalf]

Both my father in law and sister have spent a lot of time in hospital over the last 12 months, and yes it isn't ideal but all in all the NHS was really good and the treatment excellent.If we stop treating foreign people who come over to take advantage of the free health care , then the service would be better for the people who pay into the system.

Health tourists is one big suck on the NHS.

You shouldn't be allowed to use it unless you have a national insurance number or a valid working visa. That would soon cut out people going there as medical tourists. Otherwise, visitors should have private travel insurance and pay upfront. Do people really just go to the UK and get expensive treatments as tourists? Mindboggling.

It's not quite that simple. As an EU citizen you would have the right to similar free treatment on other EU countries. It is obviously a problem but as usual it's nowhere near as binary as most want it to be. Oversimplification seems to have become the new starting point for debate.

This article says that the cost to the NHS isn't that significant overall, but I don't know how they even reach the numbers they do. My thinking would be that if I was Romanian and had a serious condition, it would be more sensible to seek treatment in the UK rather than Romania. In a situation like that you could see how the UK would end up footing the bill and treatment in the UK would be much more than it is in Romania too. Then in the article the doctor mentions treating people outside of the EU for what amounts to tens of thousands of pounds. That's a lot of money! I wonder when it became the UK's responsibility to treat everyone? That's where for people not vested in the system, there should be better checks and balances. It seems very strange.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...overnment-cuts

Obviously the big problem with the NHS is that it has 40% less beds than in the 1980's. That is clearly a bit bonkers. There was a recent article saying that patients are having surgery cancelled just days before because beds are not available.