£150m unpaid NHS health bill from overseas visitors

THE NHS has been left with £150 million worth of unpaid bills by visitors from overseas who have received medical treatment but.

Two hospitals in London had been left with unpaid bills of £28m each, including nearly £500,000 from one patient alone, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Daily Mail.

King’s College Hospital in South London was left with £28.3m in unpaid bills from visiting patients who had received treatment in the ‘last few years’.

Barts Health Trust, in east London, found itself in a similar predicament and was owed £27.8m in unpaid bills, including £467,000 accumulated by one patient.

Hospitals had been issued with guidelines by the Department of Health in 2017, which set out requirements that they raise upfront invoices for overseas visitors who are not entitled to NHS funded care.

Data collected from 91 hospitals across the country showed they were collectively owed £149.5m, with 23 NHS organisations owed more than £1m each, the Mail said.