Dear Britain, can we stop being so cheap for tourists?
Sickening figures show that tourists are costing the NHS £2bn. Someone call the doctor.
Dwayne Jones
Thursday 24th October 2013 16.34 BST

A breakdown of the freebees available to tourists.
We have an emergency.
Or perhaps, according to some of our leading politicians, there is no virus spreading at all.
On one side we have Sir David Nicholson, shrugging off all criticism towards him concerning funding, workers and numerous scandals. He insists that he has done a good job and will continue to do so.
“I am absolutely proud of my NHS record” he told BBC Radio 4’s today programme, however he did concede that there is room for improvement, saying “We could always do better”.
However on the other hand we have his to-be successor, Simon Stevens, who is adamant Nicholson is doing it all wrong. Mr Stevens has seems to have drastic plans to remedy the horrifying statistics that exist today. There has been suggestions of a paid for ‘American-activated’ healthcare.
To me, this radical scheme is just a desperate attempt to salvage pride after the department of health released some quite disturbing facts on how much tourism costs the NHS.
Reports show that Britain is now considered the country with ‘some of the most generous rules in the world’. Further statistics estimate that £388 million goes on tourists who are wrongly given free treatment, and a further £300 million is used on tourists who simply take advantage of Britain’s leniency on healthcare. All this contributes to the most frightening statistic of them all… The estimated £20 - £200 million spent on tourists has been increased up to 100 times more than that. An appalling £2 BILLION.
Soft. That’s what Britain has become, soft. Now, I am all for world equality and I appreciate that health is one of the most important things in life and some are not fortunate enough to not be able to afford the healthcare they need. But given our country’s financial state still being on the edge, we cant afford to give millions of people healthcare freebees.
Jeremy Hunt has said “It’s time for action to ensure the NHS is a national health service - not an international one”. I can only agree with him, if this situation continues, I can see it getting very, very difficult for the economy.
Britain have become the Shepard…With the tourists being the sheep… However our barn is not big enough to accommodate everyone (especially those who don’t need looking after.) So therefore we need a solution or this country may start facing some problems.
Big problems. New ideas need to be put in place to show the world that this is not a place where we hand out free operations to people who ‘just need to check they’re alright’ or free eye tests because they ‘saw two fingers instead of one’.
One idea that has been put into consideration is to charge foreign students £150 a year for healthcare and £200 a year to temporary migrants - this is anticipated to generate approximately £200 million and consequently be a form of recovering the money previously lost.
It looks like there is going to be a change, I like the sound of this change, we must have a change - so maybe let’s hold of dialling 999, for now anyway.
Bibliography
Sir David Nicholson quote “I am absolutely proud of my NHS record” - Interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme - The Telegraph, 11th July 2013
Facts
“£388 million goes on tourists who are wrongly given free treatment”
“£300 million is used on tourists who simply take advantage of Britain’s leniency on healthcare”
“£20 - £200 million spent on tourists has been increased up to 100 times more than that. An appalling £2 BILLION.”
“Charge foreign students £150 a year for healthcare and £200 a year to temporary migrants - this is anticipated to generate approximately £200 million” - All from Daily Mail - The TRUE cost of health tourism, 22nd October 2013
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