Health tourists have cost the NHS a quarter of a billion pounds in just three years after failing to pay for their care, a report reveals.

The £252million would be enough to pay the salaries of 3,200 more GPs or build 68 new GP surgeries, the Policy Exchange think tank says.

A report revealed that some NHS trusts are only managing to recoup £40 for every £1,000 owed by overseas patients, despite Government promises to address the issue of non-paying patients.

Additionally, some doctors confess to ignoring NHS rules regarding verifying patients’ eligibility for free care, arguing that it creates a ‘hostile environment’ in hospitals.

In the report’s foreword, Sir Sajid Javid, a former Conservative health secretary and chancellor, emphasized that the NHS is neither a charity nor an international aid entity, cautioning that the failure to retrieve these fees while UK residents endure long waits is diminishing trust in the system.

Migration campaigners say the NHS has long been open to abuse and is now regarded as the ‘International Health Service’.

Overseas visitors can receive free access to certain NHS services, like GP visits or A&E care, but those not considered ‘ordinary residents’ in the UK may be charged for other services.

Guidance suggests that treatment must be paid for upfront unless doing so would delay urgent or immediately necessary care.

Policy Exchange submitted Freedom of Information requests to 202 NHS trusts across England, including hospitals, mental health, and community health services, inquiring about the funds collected for treating foreign nationals who are not entitled to free care at the point of use.

It also asked about the amount of money written off or the money that remains uncollected by the trust in the last three financial years.

A total of 82 total responses were received along with five partial responses.

The report states that between 2021/22 and 2023/24, NHS trusts invoiced £384,245,201 to overseas patients.

Of that total, £131,843,335 was successfully collected; £167,911,874 remains outstanding and an additional £84,489,992 has been formally written off.

The report notes that there is a total of £252,401,866 in outstanding overseas charges, with over £84 million permanently unrecoverable.

The true figure is likely to be significantly higher given the large number of trusts who failed to respond.

The average collection rate was 39 percent nationwide but 19 NHS trusts recovered less than 20 percent of the charges they issued.

The ten worst performing trusts accounted for £143.4 million, over half (56 per cent) of the national total unrecovered. 

Sir Sajid, who was health secretary between June 2021 and July 2022, wrote: ‘Asking those who pay for the NHS to shoulder the cost for those who haven’t made the same contribution is fundamentally unfair.

‘When a taxpayer in Manchester or Birmingham is denied timely treatment, yet sees resources diverted to write off millions in unrecovered costs from overseas patients, confidence in the system is corroded.

‘The NHS is not a charity. It is not an international aid organisation.

‘It is a public service – funded out of the hard-earned money of British taxpayers, for the benefit of British taxpayers.’

Alp Mehmet, chairman of the Migration Watch think tank, said: ‘The NHS is now regarded as the International Health Service.

‘It has long been open to abuse, and £250m may be a significant underestimate of the money owed by those not entitled to free treatment.

‘In reality, the NHS makes little effort to recover it. Aneurin Bevan will be turning in his grave.’

Sajid Javid, former health secretary and chancellor of the exchequer

Alp Mehmet, chairman of the Migration Watch think tank

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: ‘This report is unfair.

‘Hospitals do check if patients are eligible for NHS care for planned procedures, and they try to ensure that where appropriate, payment is taken in advance.

‘The NHS uses debt collection agencies to pursue people but when they have left the country it is hard to enforce.’

An NHS spokesperson said: ‘The NHS is committed to delivering the best possible value for taxpayers’ money and, in line with regulations, providers of NHS-funded services must identify chargeable overseas visitors and take all reasonable steps to recover costs.

‘For non-urgent care, payment must be secured in advance; and urgent or immediately necessary treatment will be provided without delay, in line with the NHS’s commitment to patient care.

‘The NHS has recovered more money so far this year compared to previous years but we are determined to go further and are working on a variety of measures to achieve this.’

One of the highest profile cases of a foreign patient being unable to pay for their care was that of a Nigerian woman who was treated as an emergency case at St Mary’s A&E, in London, after her plane stopped at Heathrow.

The woman, only identified at Priscilla, needed care for her unborn quadruplets and by the time she was discharged her bill had reached £330,000.

The Conservative Party’s 2019 election manifesto said: ‘We will clamp down on health tourism, ensuring that those from overseas who use NHS services pay their fair share.’

The issue was not mentioned in Labour’s manifesto for the 2024 General Election, although it said it would create an extra 40,000 appointments every week paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes.