HC Deb 30 October 2003 vol 412 cc360-1W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of non-UK nationals treated by the NHS in London each year since 1997; [133736]

(2) what estimates he has made of the cost to the NHS in London of health tourism in 2002–03.

Mr. Hutton

The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989, as amended, places a duty on national health service trusts to establish whether a patient is eligible for free NHS hospital treatment and if not to levy a charge for any treatment provided. Trusts are not required to submit data on the numbers of overseas visitors treated or the costs of doing so, not least because overseas visitors, as defined by the charging regulations, are not automatically "health tourists".