Daily Mail - 27.08.2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019

That’s enough to pay for 6,

nurses or 22,000 heart bypasses

HEALTH

TOURISTS’

£150M

IN UNPAID

NHS BILLS

Turn to Page 6

EXCLUSIVE

By Sophie Borland

and Eleanor Hayward

OVERSEAS patients

have left the NHS with

more than £150million

in unpaid bills for treat-

ment, a Daily Mail

investigation reveals.

The cash could pay for 6,

nurses, 22,000 heart bypasses

or nearly 5,500 junior doctors.

Two hospitals in London are

owed £28million each, includ-

ing almost £500,000 from one

patient alone.

The revelation comes amid a

new-found reluctance among

frontline staff to chase payments,

with doctors’ leaders saying their

obligation to charge overseas

patients is ‘racist’ and deters vul-

nerable groups from seeking help.

But Tory MP Philip Davies said:

‘It is the National Health Service,

not an international health serv-

ice and it is essential these charges

are made for overseas visitors.’

Freedom of information requests

by the Mail found King’s College

Hospital in south London is owed

£28.3million from foreign patients

for treatment in the last

First lady

of Strictly

waltzes in

PAGES 2-

Frilly and

fabulous:

Viscountess

Weymouth

last night

http://www.dailymail.co.uk 70p

Oh, the briny sorrow of

never seeing Ross soaping

up in his bath again!

JAN MOIR

PAGES 24-