Originally Posted by plankwalker:
“If the abuse of the NHS is not halted, this will play into the hands of any Government that wishes to bring some serious privatisation in. Public opinion and awareness of the extent of the problem has grown to the point where fact and fiction will blur. Like any arterial bleed you need to go in and sort it at source. Mopping around and cleaning / hiding the nonstop heavy drips may be a salve to some peoples sensibilities, but this is terminal.
I can understand practical issues and the pressure on NHS Staff in trying to implement any form of selective treating. Best route maybe, is to bring in third party private profit orientated contractors who will work in tandem from point of entry at Hospitals. Might sound harsh or unpleasant, but like with any system, once genuine claimants get used to it should cause no issue in practice.”
Using a private company to manage the charging process for a slice of the recovered costs might be a solution. I'll bet Capita are itching to get in there.
However, my fear is that this simply deflects from the real problems affecting the NHS. Even if the
whole cost of treatment of foreign nationals could be recovered it would amount to around 1% of the NHS's annual budget and less than 5% of the savings that the NHS is required to make. The current target is to recover less than a third of the total cost of treating foreign nationals and we haven't got anywhere near achieving that.
