Critics of so-called health tourism have long warned that the free-at-the-point-of-use NHS is being exploited by visitors who have no intention of paying for their care.
An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS is legally required to provide care to those needing urgent treatment. All NHS providers must take steps to recover costs from those who are not entitled to free care in order to protect taxpayers’ money, with payment for non-urgent treatment always secured in advance.”
Ministers pledged a decade ago to claw back up to £500million a year from overseas patients, but the figures show only a fraction of the cost of maternity care is ever recovered.
Figures obtained by GB News from NHS hospital trusts under Freedom of Information laws show they billed overseas visitors £48.8million for maternity care in the last three years.
The amount works out to more than £300,000 every week or £15.6million each year.
Of the £47.1million billed by the trusts, only £7.4million has been paid, less than one pound in six.
