Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

Hi

Anyone from any EU Country can come here and get an NI Number.

An NI number is neither proof of working nor proof of being ordinarily resident.

. Overseas visitors who are visiting the UK for six months or less, including on a multiple reentry visa, or who are in the UK without permission, must be charged for services they
receive at the point of accessing care, unless exempt from charges under other categories of the Charging Regulations.

Overseas visitors who reside in an EEA state (including non*EEA nationals) may be insured under the public healthcare insurance system in their resident member state, or country of work for frontier workers. They will consequently be exempt from charges for any medically necessary treatment they receive under the Charging Regulations,
as long as they present the appropriate EEA healthcare document.

This is because the UK can recover the cost of their care from the relevant insuring member state, if the details of their healthcare form are recorded.

The above is an extract from the guidance document.

Now, how to get an NI Number

Ring up and make an appointment.

You do not even have to be in the UK to do this.

Fly to the UK, attend appointment, show your EEC Identity Card, give an address in the UK they can send your Number to.

You do not have to prove that you are living at that address.

Job done, a few days later you get your number, well the NI Number will be delivered to the house, you could well be back in the EU or wherever.

All this is irrelevant however if you are not even asked by the hospital whether or not you are eligible for treatment.

Not a single one of the EU people I know has ever been asked for any proof of residence or an NI Number in all the time they have been here.

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

I often wonder how much translations cost too, our local GP surgery has to provide translators for at least one family each time they attend the surgery. I doubt the family pay for it as no one works !

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

Why don't we just round up all these nasty horrible foreigners and throw them in the sea?
Because that is what it sounds like you want to do and then we can sit in the Sun and drink tea and eat scones all day.

Wearing our khaki shorts and pith helmets of course!

Anyone for tiffin, what ho!

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

You make a good point.

I wonder how many other countries go to the trouble and expense of providing translators, to say nothing of every document being provided in dozens of different languages.

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

My wife's uncle was a long distance lorry driver
One time he was involved in an accident in Belgium, not his fault

The police investigated and questioned everyone involved, and after a couple of hours he was sent on his way
his French was OK for just driving around, but not up to that sort of questioning, so when they returned his documents he was given another one; the bill for the interpreter

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

Hi

Yes, I would like to deport all illegal immigrants.

Secondly I would like to reduce certain types of Immigration from non Eu Countries.

As regards Free Movement form the EU, I do not have a problem with it with one proviso.

Our Benefits System needs changing to bring it into line with many other Countries, i.e. an Insurance based system with reciprocal arrangements.

In other words, the UK is not a Charity.

As the saying goes, you do not get owt for nowt.

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

Think you are missing the whole point my understanding of the OP was.
It is not being racist against immigrants as such.
No one is screaming round up the foriegners and throw them into the sea.
Its about the wrongs in the system caused by bad management.
Management that the government and the governing body of the NHS NICE have put in there that are taking their wages under false pretences and doing sod all for the NHS in return.
They are not allowing the UK to reap the benefits that the rest of the EU countrys get.
Why this is happening when we are paying in over £350 million a week which probably makes us one of the highest payers into this system if not the highest is a complete joke imo.

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

If they were in the private sector they would have been rewarded for their failure by huge bonuses and bailed out by government. I've worked in both private and public sector and there is very little difference in terms of waste, incompetence and inept management. The problem isn't private or public, the problem is the nonsensical deification of "the manager" and the idiotic theories of managerialism which accompany it. Like much of British industry, the NHS (and local government too for that matter) is overrun by endless tiers of unnecessary but very expensive management (and even worse - management consultants) which suck the lifeblood out of the organisation without adding anything positive to it.

Bring back "Matron" - where is Hattie Jacques when we need her most?

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

Hi

I was a manager.

My Boss was a Manager.

He gave me a little plaque when he left and I got the job.

"The function of Management is to interfere with the smooth running of the operation"

Re: The Utter incompetence of the NHS.

That would be funny if it wasn't also so tragic!