NHS Trust owed thousands for non-EU nationals' hospital care

Hundreds of thousands of pounds are owed to Yorkshire hospitals in unpaid bills for providing treatment to non-EU nationals in the last year.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th Nov 2016, 12:15 BST

Updated 6th Dec 2016, 16:42 BST

The figure, obtained through a series of requests under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the total debt was £752,643 in the financial year 2015-2016. The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust is owed £44,460.

The statistics are revealed as senior Department of Health civil servant Chris Wormald said the Government was considering asking patients to produce a passport to prove they were entitled to care.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The NHS is a national – not an international – health service and we are determined to stamp out abuse of the system to ensure it remains free at the point of need in this country.

“We consulted earlier this year on extending the charging of migrants and visitors using the NHS.

“We will set out further steps in due course to ensure we deliver on our objective to recover up to £500m a year by the middle of this Parliament.”