Should we allow overseas visitors free access to NHS services?

If ministers’ calculations are correct, up to £500m a year will be recovered and reinvested in patient care after restrictions on overseas visitors’ access to NHS services are introduced.

In February, health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans to require all hospitals to charge upfront those patients who are not eligible for free non-urgent, planned care. “We have no problem with overseas visitors using our NHS—as long as they make a fair contribution, just as the British taxpayer does,” he said.

But Hunt’s view, that only those who contribute to the NHS should be eligible for free care, is not one shared by all doctors. For many, the idea of restricting access to NHS services, therefore placing financial and administrative barriers between patients and clinicians, remains contentious.

The issue caused a fierce debate at this year’s BMA’s annual representative meeting. In the …