Murphy’s Law

A while back I blogged about the Welsh Health Minister wanting to make the English jealous over free prescriptions and introducing measures to stop Health Tourists (English) from taking advantage. However, when the shoe’s on the other prosthetic limb, a host of UK politicos lined up to say it’s not a problem if the Health Tourists are Welsh.

According to Christine Russell (Chester, Lab) “20% and perhaps even more of its beds were occupied by patients from the Welsh side of the border”. This is causing English Health Trusts to lose “tens of millions of pounds”. Yet she had “no absolutely objection to patients who live in Wales actually being treated at the Countess of Chester Hospital - it is their local hospital."


Paul Murphy (Welsh Secretary) left, said “the NHS, a UK-wide service, should not be affected by cross-border issues.”

However, Darren Millar,(AM Clwyd West, Con) recently pointed to 3 million patients registered with GPs in a country of 2.9 million said: “These shocking figures, when read alongside the fact there is a 5% increase in the number of NHS prescriptions issued in Wales over the last 12 months, shows that there is a serious problem. The Assembly Government must tackle prescription tourism sooner rather than later.”

So...
Welsh Health Tourists blocking 20% or more English beds = "absolutley no problem"
English Health Tourists taking 3% of Wales’ prescriptions = “a serious problem”

GOT IT? Well, you can be sure you'll get the bill!

This is a serious problem. In the absence of a minister with responsibility for England, I’ll ask the Wales Secretary to sort out these people who seem to think that the NHS is NOT a UK-wide service. Watch this space.