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Patients could be forced to show their passports before being granted NHS [UK's National Health Service] care as part of a bid to crack down on foreign visitors, a senior official has said.
The Department of Health is examining whether patients should have to show two forms of ID to get some elements of NHS care, saying this was "controversial" but already happening in some places.
Chris Wormald, the most senior civil servant at the Department of Health, said in a hearing at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the NHS has a "lot further to go" when it comes to reclaiming money from foreign visitors.
[...] "Now it is obviously quite a controversial thing to do to say to the entire population you now have to prove identity."
[...] But PAC chairwoman Meg Hillier expressed concern about British residents that don't have photo ID and those who would struggle to find a utility bill.
"I have constituents who have no photo IDs," she said.
"Because they have never travelled they have no passport, they have no driver's licence because they have never driven, they still live at home because they can't afford to move out so they've never had a utility bill in their name.
"(They are) perfectly entitled to health care - British born, British resident - how are you going to make sure that people have access easily to the National Health Service without having to go through a very humiliating and impossible to meet set of demands?"
Source: The Independent
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Webweasel on Friday November 25 2016, @03:43PM
It has survived this far, long may it continue.
It's also worth noting that despite years of this kind of abuse, the NHS still provides a world class service with outstanding results.
Considering the rise in demand, the service from the NHS is phenomenal. Compare to the demands in the 1980's to today I am stunned that the NHS has coped as well as it has.
Why anyone would choose to go into Nursing in the current environment boggles me. It shows that John Nash's game theory is bullshit and that humans are altruistic. Praise to those people who choose that career.
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 25 2016, @06:20PM
Why anyone would choose to go into Nursing in the current environment boggles me
Job security? I does seem nursing is the saving grace for many ne'er-do-wells.
I'm less impressed by the altruism of nurses, and more by their competency. It might be that the burnout rate is exceedingly high, so i see more of the worst.
*20 years working as a nurse*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 25 2016, @09:17PM
>Why anyone would choose to go into Nursing in the current environment boggles me. It shows that John Nash's game theory is bullshit and that humans are altruistic. Praise to those people who choose that career.
I've always found these comments interesting as they are uttered by people through a series of rationalizations would never dream of proving Nash wrong by their own example.
Maybe carry the load yourself a bit?