- A non-EU patient has racked up a bill of £532,000 after visiting a British hospital
- The unnamed patient received treatment from a Manchester hospital last year
- The huge figure was announced as health tourism costs the NHS £2billion a year
Abe Hawken For Mailonline
1.1k
View
comments
A health tourist has racked up Britain’s biggest ever unpaid NHS bill after leaving a hospital with a debt of more than £530,000.
The unnamed patient, who is from outside the EU, received treatment from a Manchester hospital last year.
Hospital bosses have cited ‘patient confidentiality’ and have not revealed which country they are from, their age or gender.
It comes as health tourism continues to cost the NHS around £2billion a year after doctors up and down the country provide treatment for non-EU residents.
Hospital bosses have cited ‘patient confidentiality’ and have not revealed which country the patient is from
The latest incident means the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was left with a debt of £532,498.
Freedom of Information laws has revealed that the figure is £30,000 more than the previous highest health tourist debt.
In November 2016, a 43-year-old Nigerian mother named Priscilla gave birth to quadruplets at London’s Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital.
She had intended to give birth where her family members live in Chicago, US, but she was turned away by border officials.
So she instead chose to fly to Heathrow Airport and gave birth in London – and the hospital had to chase of a bill of more than £500,000 after all of the treatment.
Priscilla, a healthcare worker, gave birth to four babies. One sadly died after birth while another, a girl called Deborah, passed away just days after being born.
The Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is still chasing the huge debt
The rise of health tourist debt has prompted the government to make plans to introduce new laws to prevent similar cases from happening again.
Theresa May is hoping to get back £500million every year and the new measure will mean patients from outside the EU will have to pay before certain operations.
St Bart’s hospital in London is still owed £349,131 from one patient and Guy’s and Thomas’s, also in London, is chasing a bill of £317,898.
Meanwhile, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals in east London and trying to get £157,378 from parents of one-year-old twins who went to the hospital.
An Indian man, 66, was treated for pancreatitis at the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust and owes the trust £122,632.
Share or comment on this article
-
![Windsor's homeless community has grown around central Thames Street where men and women camp out with sleeping bags, cardboard mats, duvets and blankets. There is no suggestion he has taken taxis home after begging]()
Fake Windsor beggars ‘take taxis home at night’ driver in… -
![Clay Point is a stunning, large detached house in Cornwall overlooking Falmouth Harbour]()
Five-bedroom coastal house that boasts its own private… -
![Ms Miller with husband Richard Goring]()
Huntswoman, 56, who was filmed ‘repeatedly whipping a… -
![Craig Foster, 34, apologised after one of his friends picked up his iPad and streamed Anthony Joshua's fight on Facebook Live, saying 'I'm just a bloke who had a few drinks with his friends']()
Boxing fan is threatened with an £85,000 Sky bill after… -
![Richard and Julia Keys are pictured at The Butterfly Ball in at Battersea Evolution in 2009]()
Football pundit Richard Keys, 60, ‘begged his wife to… -
![Kingdom of Sweets is selling an Australian version of the sweets for 99p - almost 10 times the classic 10p price for Freddos]()
‘Please tell me it’s a mistake’: People are outraged to… -
![Former Eurovision song contest winner Dana is pursuing a landmark prosecution of those who gave false evidence against her brother John (pictured together)]()
Eurovision winner Dana demands prosecution of false sex… -
![Tory darling Jacob Rees-Mogg today warned Theresa May and Philip Hammond to bury their difference and get the Government back on track]()
Tory darling Jacob Rees-Mogg tells Theresa May and Philip… -
![Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured, voiced outrage in 2016 over the 'teaching of the English language spreading to nursery schools']()
Iran bans teaching English in primary schools as Islamic… -
![Carrie Gracie, one of the BBC's top female journalists, has quit in a row over the gender pay gap]()
#IStandWithCarrie: Dozens of BBC women break their… -
![Vanessa George, who abused children in her care at a nursery in Plymouth, may also be eligible for release]()
Paedophile Vanessa George and child grooming gang leader… -
![Anne Milton was a nurse for 25 years]()
Former nurse Anne Milton is tipped to replace Jeremy Hunt… -
![Jodie Kidd's mother has put her beloved estate on Barbados' Platinum Coast up for sale]()
Supermodel Jodie Kidd’s mother is forced to sell off… -
![Jenna Heary (right) has begged doctors to trial a cannabis-based cure on her daughter Olivia Botham (left)]()
Desperate mother, 22, begs doctors to treat her… -
![The English Alps: Scores of skiers hiked up to England's highest ski tow yesterday to enjoy Alpine skiing on a remote area on Raise Fell in the Lake District]()
Forget the Alps, we have the LAKES: Skiers take to the… -
![Perry Coppins (pictured) was arrested at the port of Fujairah in the UAE on November 1 after an official thought he had illegal medication]()
British cancer sufferer, 61, is freed from a Dubai prison… -
![He spent Christmas alone in his London flat after Sabina Vankova, 33, (pictured) fled the UK following a row over the politician's close friendship with former wag Alex Best]()
Heartbroken ex-Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik spent Christmas… -
![The BBC's Andrew Marr lashed Theresa May over the NHS winter crisis today, suggesting if he had stroke this year he might have died]()
‘This is about life and death’: BBC’s Andrew Marr lashes…
Comments 1118
Share what you think
-
Newest -
Oldest -
Best rated -
Worst rated
The comments below have not been moderated.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
Close
Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?
Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.
Close
Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?
Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual
We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.
You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.
Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5244525/Health-tourist-racks-Britains-biggest-unpaid-NHS-bill.html