Episode 4
A woman from Nigeria recovers in the hospital after going into premature labour with quadruplets, having fallen ill on a flight. Only three of her babies survived the dangerously premature births and they are now being cared for in Neonatal Intensive Care.
She receives a visit from the hospital's overseas officer Terry, whose job it is to prepare her for a huge bill. Because she is not a British resident, she must pay for the care that she and her babies are receiving. The cost of such specialist care quickly tops £100,000 and looks likely to rise to half a million pounds during their stay.
Terry explains that, despite her distressing predicament, it is a legal requirement for the hospital to collect the money the NHS is owed.
"We have to start raising invoices on a weekly basis. She has three babies in ICU. So that's £20,000 a week for each baby, plus her own charges as well. You have to distance yourself emotionally, otherwise you wouldn't get the job done."
The woman is just one of a number of overseas patients who are receiving life-saving care and from whom the hospital must now try to recoup money. Although emergency treatment given in A&E is free, non-UK residents who are admitted to a ward have to be billed.
Terry also needs to charge Sonia, a 56 year-old woman from the Philippines who suffered heart problems while visiting her sister, a UK resident. Cardio-Thoracic surgeon Rex Stanbridge saves her life, but she suffers complications and needs a bed in Intensive Care - costing thousands of pounds per day.
In 2015/16 the Trust's overseas patient charges were £4 million, with Terry's team managing to collect £1.6 million. Despite carrying a credit card machine to take on-the-spot payments, Terry finds it hard to get many patients to pay up.
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