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London hospitals write off £112m in unpaid foreign patient bills

BBC
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London hospitals write off 112 m in foreign patient bills from overseas patients.

Under current NHS regulations, hospitals must charge patients who are not "ordinarily resident" in the UK for non-urgent treatment.

Critics argue that the current system for recouping these costs is unfair and ineffective.

More consistent charging of overseas patients could yield an extra 500 m per year for the NHS .

The true extent of unpaid bills remains unclear, as the 223 m invoiced only represents patients identified as chargeable.

The current government has defended the charging system and said " tens of millions of pounds " were recovered each year .