Are The Welsh Foreign ?

[tonyav]

The NHS think they are.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/welshman-charged-%C2%A31775-by-english-hospital-for-being-technically-a-foreigner/ar-BBisfVz

[bhg481]

The welsh think they are. They have chosen to have their own NHS terms and rejoice in the fact that they don't pay prescription charges. Does that make it OK for me (in England) to be ill whilst on holiday in Wales and get free prescriptions, or should I pay for them as I would in England? In exchange for free prescriptions the Welsh will have had to remove some treatments from those available - should they get these treatments free if they come to England?

[EDDIE51]

This was a mistake by the private company that ran Hinchingbrooke hospital.
The bill should have been sent to his local health authority as all bills are.
They handed it to him by mistake.

[bhg481]

Yes Eddie, I was aware that this was a mistake. I was really trying to highlight the sort of silly situations that can crop up when a national service is split into regions. What's going to happen if some of the large councils (Manchester, Birmingham etc) get to start running their own "national" services as they want to do?

[Sqad]

I don't see it that way.

Wales Assembly manages it's NHS separate from the rest of the UK.

English students have to pay to got to Scottish Universities whereas other EU and foreign students don't.

Hinchingbrooke is an NHS hospital but managed privately and was correct to charge the patient. The bill handed to him seems reasonable to me and he should have been made to pay it and retrieve the money from his own Health Authority.

[DTCwordfan]

English students have to pay to got to Scottish Universities whereas other EU and foreign students don't.

This is going to be challenged in the courts apparently.

[anotheoldgit]

Sqad

Took the words right out of my mouth, especially the Scottish University reference.

It's about time there was someone to speak out on behalf of the poor down trod English.

[anotheoldgit]

DTCwordfan

/// English students have to pay to got to Scottish Universities whereas other EU and foreign students don't. ///

/// This is going to be challenged in the courts apparently. ///

Can't ever see a favourable result coming, if it were to happen can you imagine the rush by English students for Scottish University places?

[sandyRoe]

Is Dundee, where William went, the Oxbridge of the north?

[Svejk]

The Cliffs of Dover would get 10ft higher, aog.

[pastafreak]

Didn't William go to St. Andrews?

[sandyRoe]

Indeed he did. Don't know what made me think he went to Dundee Poly.

[Gromit]

// The bill handed to him seems reasonable to me and he should have been made to pay it and retrieve the money from his own Health Authority. //

Though the hospital was privately run, it was an NHS hospital not a private hospital. The treatment he received is free to NHS patients at the point of access. So he should not have been personally given the bill for treatment and everyone concerned conceeds that was an error.


Devolved NHS spending is a good idea, and Manchester has just been handed the power to run its NHS budget.

I cannot see what the fuss is about other than an excuse for whingers to play their persecuted English card.

[Baldric]

//By 2001, William was back in the United Kingdom and had enrolled, under the name William Wales, at the University of St Andrews.//Wiki

[Svejk]

Wasn't he one of our Welsh whingers, gromit?

[Sqad]

Gromit.......that was the way that i saw it had i been a hospital administrator, the bill given to him and settled BRFORE he left MY hospital.

The fact that he came from a devolved UK country that wanted nothing to do with the great NHS, would have made him a FOREIGNER.

The Dept of Health of the UK would not have agreed with my tactics, that is why the NHS is owed billions by foreign health debts.

You wouldn't be allowed to leave a hotel without settling your bill and i feel the same applies to foreign health care.

The Welsh will have to take out private insurance if they come to the rest of the UK...............

[Gromit]

// The fact that he came from a devolved UK country that wanted nothing to do with the great NHS, would have made him a FOREIGNER. //

There is only one NHS in the UK. The welsh and the scottish have been given the power to spend the NHS budget in their areas, it does not mean it is a separate or different NHS, it is all part of the same thing, as will be the Manchester region who have been given the budget from central Government.

Scotland, Wales, Manchester do not have their own tax raising powers for health. If they were funding their hospitals locally then they could charge the customer/patient who was not local, but they aren't.

[Old_Geezer]

Of course they are foreign. Have you never seen their road signs ?

[Sqad]

Gromit

\\\There is only one NHS in the UK. The welsh and the scottish have been given the power to spend the NHS budget in their areas, it does not mean it is a separate or different NHS, \\\


I respect your point, but do not accept it. The NHS is "national" in name only...it varies from excellent to average to unacceptable as post codes vary. The Welsh and Scots "jumped ship" as they felt that with local administration, they could do a better job and has such in my book, resigned from the club.

[DTCwordfan]

Here's one of the main differences - it's legal over in Wales

https://englanduniteddotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/woman-marries-ram-in-wales.jpg