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Foreign Patients Face Emergency Healthcare Fees

People from outside the European Union who turn up at accident and emergency departments face being forced to pay an upfront charge under plans being launched by Jeremy Hunt.

Overseas patients already pay for planned hospital care - but the Health Secretary wants to extend NHS charges to A&E units.

Officials stressed that no one who needs urgent care will be turned away, with systems put in place to recoup the costs, and the most vulnerable groups will be given protections.

Exemptions will be put in place for refugees and asylum seekers, and pregnant women will not be turned away from maternity units if they have not paid upfront under the proposals.

But patients needing other casualty department services would have to make the payment before they are treated.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "International visitors are welcome to use the NHS, provided they pay for it - just as families living in the UK do through their taxes.

"This Government was the first to introduce tough measures to clamp down on migrants accessing NHS care and have always been clear we want to look at extending charges for non-EEA migrants.

"No one will be denied urgent treatment and vulnerable groups will continue to be exempt from charging."

The crackdown on so-called health tourism is expected to claw back around £500m, according to the Times.

The NHS faces an annual £30bn shortfall in the next parliament.

A basic assessment with an A&E doctor reportedly costs the NHS at least £56 while the bill rises to £316 for more extensive care.

Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medication Association's governing council, told the Times: "A doctor’s duty is to treat the patient in front of them, not to act as border guard.

"Any plans to charge migrants and short-term visitors need to be practical, economic and efficient."

A spokesman for the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the newspaper that A&E doctors "cannot reasonably be expected to take on the burden on identifying who is eligible for free treatment, and who should be charged".

The plans are expected to go out to consultation next month.