Shropshire hospitals trust still owed £30,000 for overseas patients
Overseas patients have left the trust in control of Shropshire's two main hospitals with more than £30,000 of unpaid bills in one year.
Patients who were not entitled to free treatment on the health service owe £34,898.79 to Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, according to figures revealed by a Freedom of Information request.
The figures also show that SaTH has so far recovered £50,657.66 from overseas visitors who weren't eligible for free care in 2015/16.
In a statement, the trust said it had always actively pursued all overseas debt and refers outstanding debts to a third party collection agent.
It is forecast that this financial year the trust will record an overspend without corrective action of £12.334 million.
More than 120 NHS trusts were asked to provide details on overseas patients billed for NHS care who were exempt from reciprocal arrangements with the UK.
Of 92 trusts that were also able to give data for 2014/15, the outstanding debt in that year came to £15,907,018.
Some trusts are still trying to chase the money from overseas patients while others have written a portion off as bad debt.
The investigation suggests that more than £21 million was recovered by trusts in 2015/16. The departments most commonly used by overseas visitors included maternity and general medicine.
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "It is shocking that so many costs are left unpaid by overseas patients using the NHS. If this money was reinvested in the NHS it could mean the difference between hiring more nurses or paying for additional equipment."
