I had an accident on North Sea Ferry in Belgium. Needed stitches ambulance to Blankenberg Hospital. Overnight in hospital, early next day I was asked for my EU card and a bill for ambulance, treatment and one night stay arrived within a week of my return. I then had to claim my costs at NHS Newcastle. Fact.

But the foreigners are bleeding the NHS. Every time I’m in any department there’s plenty foreigners in the waiting rooms which will be making waiting times longer and costing the taxpayers. Foreigners aren’t crippling the NHS on their own, I’d say final salary pensions, pointless managers, waste, being ripped off by suppliers and contractors because it’s the NHS all play their part.

The UK is seen as a free hospital by foreigners who come and visit and viola ‘Looks like I need a new kidney whilst I’m here’, or ‘I’ll just visit the UK whilst I’m 9 months pregnant’. I know for a fact elderly Asians come to visit relatives in the UK just so they can get free treatment for whatever ailments on the NHS.

And don’t go down the ‘The NHS would collapse if not for foreign workers’. There are plenty who all play their part but they’re workers, there’s plenty doctors and nurses but there’s plenty British doctors and nurses. Foreigners play their part but foreigners also take the Mick. The left only believe they play their part, the right believe they only take the Mick. I’m saying both happens.

What would you have done differently when she went into labour at Heathrow?

Great anecdotal evidence there.

Go to your nearest hospital and look for yourself.

I work in one. It's nothing like that.

Absolutely nothing different to what was done. Nobody wants people to die for the want of EMERGENCY treatment. What this woman did initially though was to try to exact free treatment , from the state's in this instance , to which she wasn't entitled. And wasn't that bothered about her unborn quads to stop her flying half way across the world late into her pregnancy to get it.

Agreed.

The rest I don't have the facts on so it's not possible to make a fair judgement.

Don't let it stop you though.

If these foreigners as you call them, are sat in A&E they are highly likely to be British citizens or EU citizens. Therefore are entitled to treatment.

Or are you saying everyone is getting illegal or tourist treatment?

Do you work in a hospital?

Thanks I won't. The FACT is she flew to the USA while heavily pregnant with quads. The FACT is she is not a USA citizen so why on earth did she think she was entitled to free healthcare. Now this is supposition , I THINK she thought they were as soft a touch as the UK.

And because your right wing rag of choice featured that particular story, you've extrapolated it to a ginormous problem that is bringing the NHS to its knees?

As has been pointed out - so called 'health tourism' is a miniscule issue for the NHS - so much so that the administration of it would cost more than the revenue it would generate; the real issue is years of under-funding by Tory/Lib-Dem governments - such that we're currently short of 40,000 nurses and 10,000 Doctors.

If you read my earlier posts that is not what I said. Please stop putting words in my mouth. As I said earlier it's more the principal of people from abroad taking advantage of our good nature. And before you jump on the EU question if they are entitled fair enough.

But that happens so infrequently, the effect is vanishingly small; so what you're left with, is people who experience a genuine medical issue whilst in the UK, who need help, and get it.

Personally, I'd rather live in a country that allows for that, than a close-minded, xenophobic hate factory, that shrugs its collective shoulders at people in need, until they've swiped their credit card. But maybe that's just me.

Take your point. However when I go abroad I purchase travel insurance in case I get into difficulty. Shouldn't people who visit here do the same? Or do they think "I'll not bother they'll treat me anyway".