MPs angry over £1.6bn EU health tourism shortfall

Fears were raised today that the NHS is missing out on millions of pounds it is owed for tending foreign patients.

Health chiefs were urged to be tougher in chasing the cash after figures reveal Britain paid £1.7billion to treat its citizens in Europe in the past three years - but received just £125.3million for Europeans treated here.

Ministers said the £1.6billion discrepancy was down to the high number of UK pensioners who have retired to the Continent but MPs blamed health trusts for letting foreign nations off the hook.

They expressed concerns that accurate figures are not being kept after the Department of Health said it did not know how many "health tourists" had been treated free. Tory MP Dr Daniel Poulter, an ex-NHS hospital doctor who sits on the Commons health committee, said: "Nations in Europe are good at getting money back from Britain but our hospital management is very bad at getting money back from them and patients lose out. That must change."

Fellow Tory MP Jason McCartney said: "It is important that we recoup the costs in the same way that we pay for our nationals overseas."

Department of Health officials said it was "always likely" that the UK would pay far more than it receives because many British pensioners live abroad.

A spokesman added: "EU rules mean we must cover the cost of pensioners' healthcare, wherever they live in the EU. We'd pay for them if they lived in the UK or for example, Spain."