Health Tourism

[gruffalo]

Some thing I witnessed the other day has got me thinking.

I got off the Heathrow Express at Paddington and at the ticket barrier there was a chap who had been on the train with me, he had a large case and was asking for help.

He seemed to be in considerable discomfort and that just saying to the ticket inspector "I need NHS" over and over again. On being quizzed about what was wrong he could say nothing except "I need NHS", not another word of English could he apparently speak. The tag on his bag was LOT which is the Polish airline company and it just seemed to me that it was probably a case of health tourism.

I also remember a few years ago visiting a friend in a Bucks hospital and she was the only person speaking in English to her visitors.

Is health tourism a major problem for the NHS and would the chap at Paddington have been treated FoC or would he receive a bill, as I left the ticket inspector was radioing the control room to call an ambulance.

What would people on here say, it is fine, the chap was clearly unwell or should it be stopped and if so how?

[gruffalo]

Hoofy said:

What would happen in another country if he did a similar thing, asking for medical assistance?

I don't know but I assume(always dangerous) that they would not get treated hence coming to the UK.

[gruffalo]

Hoofy said:

In that case, I see no reason why we should do anything.

Do you mean that we should as a country provide them free health care?

[gruffalo]

FredClogs said:

Nearly a full page and not one of you has said "I'm not a racist but..." Come on guys, at least try.

May be because it is not about race or colour but all about entitlement.

I am shocked at some of the responses, not because of their tone but because reading the posts on here it would seem that the UK tax payer is being taken for a mug.