Foreign women's NHS maternity bills top £300,000 a week
Reports say NHS hospitals are charging foreign women who are not entitled to free maternity care more than £300,000 a week, with most of the money unpaid and millions written off.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
New figures indicate that NHS hospitals are providing maternity care to foreign women who are not entitled to free treatment at a cost of more than £300,000 a week. Hospitals have billed these patients almost £50 million for maternity care over three years. More than £30 million remains unpaid, and around £8 million has been written off as irrecoverable. Only about one pound in every six is ever recovered when the women return to their countries of origin, according to the report.
Joe Hart, a former midwife and former Reform UK candidate, said staff have limited time to check residency or payment details when a woman arrives in labour. The priority is the safety of the mother and baby. He said debt collection happens after care has been provided and that the current system is not working well. He also said there are occasional cases where women come from countries with poor maternity care and have relatives in the UK, but that midwives would not turn anyone away.
The discussion stressed that no expectant mother should be denied emergency care, while questioning why British taxpayers should be left to cover unpaid bills. Hart said unpaid charges add pressure to an already stretched NHS and can affect the quality of care, although duty of care comes first.
Wider maternity pressures were also raised. A national maternity survey from December last year found that 66% of women said they could get a member of staff when they needed one during birth. A report on the closure of smaller maternity units and an increase in caesarean sections was also mentioned, with the argument that larger specialist units may provide better care for complicated births. A contributor warned against conflating these pressures with the unpaid bills issue.
Another contributor said the charging system for overseas patients was introduced under the coalition government. They said a system exists to recover money, but clinicians are often reluctant to pursue debts and there needs to be a clearer understanding that failing to recover costs has consequences.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A former midwife reported that staff had little time to check paperwork during a woman's labour. | |
| More than £30 million of the charges remained unpaid, and £8 million was written off. | |
| NHS hospitals charged foreign maternity patients nearly £50 million over a three-year period. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
GB News framed the figures as a cost to taxpayers and focused on whether the NHS can recover money from foreign maternity patients. The segment gave a platform to a former midwife and former Reform UK candidate, asked whether some women deliberately travel to use the NHS, and linked unpaid bills to pressure on maternity services. It also included pushback about wider NHS cuts and the difficulty of collecting debts from patients who may give false details.
- “nhs hospitals are providing maternity care to foreign women who aren't entitled to free treatment to the tune of more than 300 000 pounds a week”
- “barely one pound in every six is ever recovered when those women return to their countries of origin”
- “no expectant mother should be denied emergency care but why should the british taxpayer be left to foot the bill”
Who was on air
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- 19:38 BST
joe hart, former midwife
Farage · Tue 20 Oct
Broadcast Timeline
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