NHS - Fiddling Foreigners

[y2krog2000]

Foreigners flocking to Britain to fiddle free healthcare are defrauding the NHS out of more than £2BILLION a year. And while hordes of "health tourists" cynically con their way to hugely expensive treatment, law-abiding Brits endure National Insurance hikes and ever-increasing hospital waiting lists. 100,000 foreigners turn up at emergency wards each year claiming to have "suddenly" fallen ill. But many have long-term diseases like kidney failure and others even need organ transplants. Some receive treatment costing more than £50,000. Thousands of heavily pregnant women arrive here specifically to exploit our system.

Some inner city maternity wards complain that HALF their patients are from abroad. Most get care worth over £1,500. And at least 6,000 HIV sufferers are coming into the UK annually, according to the Institute Of Hepatology, each taking treatment costing £15,000 a year. Some AIDS clinics reveal that up to 80 PER CENT of patients have lived in the UK for less than a year. The potential bill is £900 million and rising. Last year immigration overtook gay sex as our biggest source of HIV infection. Hospitals should charge pat-ients not eligible for NHS care.

But the vast majority skip the country without paying a penny. And the crisis is made worse by the increase in asylum seekers and people on work visas ENTITLED to free treatment. An incredible 95 per cent of hepatitis B cases reported here are actually contracted outside Britain, each costs us £10,000 a year. And 40 per cent of London's acute psychiatric beds are taken up by foreigners. Australian backpackers doing Europe head to Britain first where they immediately use their visas to register with a GP and get free travel jabs and tablets, saving £300.

And, as figures collated by the Conservative Party put that £2billion price tag on the medical freeloading scandal, health chiefs warn that overstretched hospitals simply cannot cope. Dr Anne Edwards, a consultant at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital, said, "We're in crisis. Not only do we not have enough money for our own population but we're having to treat lots of people from other countries. We're shelling out huge amounts of money. A lot of people are resentful." Richard Rawlins, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bedford Hospital, said, "One solution could be the introduction of entitlement cards. The alternative is total anarchy, where the British NHS becomes responsible for medical care of three-quarters of the world's population."

GPs are considered the "gatekeepers" of the NHS because any non-emergency patient wanting hospital treatment must be referred by them. GPs in one London health trust were recently advised NOT to seek proof of entitlement, for fear of discriminating against refugees and asylum seekers. GPs face legal action if they attempt to strike off suspected cheats. Manchester doctor Ian Burton tried to remove an Iranian family who registered a growing number of relatives and visitors at their address. He was threatened with the Commission for Racial Equality.

"Our own defence organisation said that if it went to court we'd have lots of bad publicity," he said. "From that point we've not policed anything." But Ronald Langstaff, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at a busy west London hospital, insisted, "This isn't a racial issue, it's a resources and entitlement issue." He knew one case where a foreign woman turned up at casualty demanding dialysis. He said, "When told she wasn't entitled she turned round and said if they didn't treat her she'd apply for asylum and get it free anyway! That is blatant abuse."

I have nothing against people coming to the U.K. to work but I read someting in the newspaper this week that said that a lot of Eastern Europeans are now moving to the U.K. and claiming benefits and loads of cancer patients from these countries are coming to the U.K to get treated FREE on the NHS because the treatment in their countries is rubbish, this cant be right because if I go to Spain or any other country I will only get treated for small injuries FREE if I have my European health insurance card with me or have insurance but I cant go to France, Spain, Italy or any of these countries to get treatment for cancer.