Serious Free Delivery Services In UK For Pregnant Sinkies! Kiasu Sinkies Quickly Fly

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

The problem is so acute that bosses are FINALLY considering introducing passport checks on women who have no right to treatment in British hospitals.


Health chiefs have long warned of an ‘escalating’ problem with women flying to Britain to have their children knowing they will get free top notch care, courtesy of the British tax payer.

And a high proportion of expectant foreign mothers who have no right to access the NHS maternity services continue to target St George's Hospital in Tooting.

Managers at St George’s said Nigerian women were using the south London hospital as an international health service.

St George's is targeted as it does not currently have a robust process to check eligibility

Writing in an email to board members, head of private and overseas patients for the NHS trust, Jo Johnson, said: "The problem is escalating within obstetrics and we have just been made aware that individuals are currently offering paid assistance to women in Nigeria to have their babies for free on the NHS at St George's.

"St George's is targeted as it does not currently have a robust process to check eligibility.

"We know from feedback from other non-eligible patients that St George's is viewed as an 'easy target."




Four in five overseas patients at St George’s flee before paying for their care with the hospital losing approximately £4.6million a year from health tourists

A St George's Hospital spokesman said: "Like many London trusts, we treat a high number of patients from overseas who are not eligible for NHS treatment.

"All patients in need of emergency NHS care at St George's are treated and prioritised accordingly, regardless of their eligibility.

"Our priority at all times is to provide care and treatment to patients requiring our services.

"However, we also have a duty to ensure we use our resources wisely.

"The guidelines state that hospitals should endeavour to check patients for their eligibility when accessing non-emergency NHS treatment.

"We are not doing this effectively enough at present, and are looking at ways in which we can improve this."

Health tourism is thought to cost the NHS £200million a year with patients flying in for all types of medical treatment.

In one high-profile case, Nigerian businesswoman Bimbo Ayelabola arrived from Lagos in 2011 to give birth to premature quintuplets at Homerton Hospital, East London.

She received £145,000 of NHS care when she had to have a complex caesarean section but never paid a penny towards the bill.

The Department of Health issued new guidelines to hospitals last year telling staff to ask for passports and proof of identity before treatment.

But under-strain hospitals have struggled to keep up with ID checks.

Managers at St George’s insist women will not be turned away if they are in labour.

The hospital, which serves a population of 1.3million, treated at least 6,000 overseas patients last year.

The move echoes the warning of one London professor who caused controversy when he said the flow of West African women flying in to give birth for free at one trust was so common it was referred to by staff as the "Lagos Shuttle."



A spokesman for the Department of Health welcomed the proposed scheme at St George’s but said hospitals should already be asking patients for passports.

John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “The huge burden on hard-pressed taxpayers caused by health tourism on the NHS is simply unsustainable.”

But Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said it is a worrying proposal.

She said: "This move by the trust is a concern.

"I am sure no trust would deny care to women in labour or who are pregnant and arrive at a hospital needing urgent care related to their pregnancy.

"To be clear, the law says, and government policy states, that trusts must offer care to women in labour, irrespective of their immigration status in the country.

"On the wider level, midwives also have more than enough to do without checking women's eligibility and determining their immigration status.

"They are not border guards; they are healthcare professionals there to deliver clinical care to all women.

"This is not their job and never should be, and we must assume that the trust will not require them to do this.

"Their job is to care for the women who walk through the doors of their maternity unit and it is the responsibility of trusts to care for and treat these women.

"Most importantly, this move could also be dangerous because it could deter women from seeking care in a timely fashion.

"This could potentially have a serious impact on the health of the mother and their baby and the outcome of the pregnancy.

"I would ask the trust to clarify their policy and to give assurances that all pregnant women who need care will receive it, no matter what their immigration status."

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/726...ty-care-UK-NHS


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