NHS hospitals may require patients to show passports before treatment

Health reporter(wp/es):

NHS patients could have to produce their passports to receive treatment, a senior official has said.

The Department of Health’s top civil servant Chris Wormald said a national scheme could be rolled out that requires patients to show two forms of ID before they can receive treatments.

He told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the Government needed to do more to reclaim money from foreign NHS users.

Some NHS trusts, including ones in London, already ask patients to prove ID but the health department was examining whether to implement a scheme across the country.

Mr Wormald told the committee: “We are looking at whether trusts should do more on upfront identification.

"The general question - are we looking at whether trusts should proactively ask people to prove identity? Yes we are looking at that.

“Some trusts are looking at the moment to see whether they need to require people to prove identity by bringing in a passport or some other form of ID - which is not the culture of the Health Service up to now.”

PAC chairwoman Meg Hillier said the scheme raised concerns for British residents who don’t have photo ID and those who would struggle to find a utility bill.

She said: "I have constituents who have no photo IDs.

"Because they have never travelled they have no passport, they have no driver's licence because they have never driven, they still live at home because they can't afford to move out so they've never had a utility bill in their name.

"(They are) perfectly entitled to health care - British born, British resident - how are you going to make sure that people have access easily to the National Health Service without having to go through a very humiliating and impossible to meet set of demands?"

Mr Wormald admitted there were challenges in the identification of people and said it was why the trial was being taken very slowly.

Last month, the National Audit Office found just £255 million of at least £500 million had been collected by NHS trusts on money spent treating foreign patients last year.

Of those, eight trusts failed to receive payment from a single overseas visitor who received free healthcare that had not been entitled.