Show your passport for NHS treatment

[J-jay]

There is a suggestion that people will be expected to show their passport to obtain NHS treatment.

What's interesting is that the National Audit Office claims that £674m has been paid to other European countries for the treatment of Britons abroad, while in return we have received only £49m.

We have come to be a culture where people just come here and take from the system, and everyone turns a blind eye. Yet our NHS is crumbling and this is a place we could reap back some money and shore up the system.

[Yogi001]

I saw this, and I noted that the government seemed to blame the NHS workers, is there a system in place for checking eligibility routinely? I'm not aware of one.

We we travel to other countries we expect to pay, hence the reason for travel insurance, but it seems that fellow travellers to the UK do not expect to pay for treatment, and invaribly, as these figures show, they don't pay.

[lifesaball]

The government have a responsibility to sort this mess out, no wonder the NHS is in such a financial mess. They is constant budget cuts to the services, why don't they concentrate on tightening the NHS to rest industry.

If you asked the average person in the street if they know who should pay, and who shouldn't, the majority of people wouldn't be able to answer.

[Gwen Jones]

The figures seem staggering. You do have to wonder how the government has not tackled this so far. Maybe it is too messy to deal with. They have cut the public services so much there isn't the staff to run the bureaucracy that would be linked to clawing back the money.

[lifesaball]

Lansley has waded in saying the government must do something to reform social care before it is too late.
The cuts have been way too deep and hospitals are struggling to cope with the deficit. Health tourism is one area they should clean up.