Responding to the Government reannouncement on migrant use of the NHS, Lord Philip Hunt, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, said: 
 
“Yet again, Ministers are putting spin before substance – their own report undermines the attempts to grab more headlines with this reannouncement.
 
“Labour is in favour of improving the recovery of costs from people with no entitlement to NHS treatment. Rather than more grand-standing, the Government needs to deliver practical, thought through changes to make that happen. Instead this out of touch government is left asking doctors and nurses to act as surrogate immigration officials.”

Ends.

Notes for Editors:
 
The Department of Health report’s ‘note of caution’ warns that: “The estimates [of recovering £500m] are based on incomplete data, sometimes of varying quality, and a large number of assumptions.”
Page 14: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/251909/Quantitative_Assessment_of_Visitor_and_Migrant_Use_of_the_NHS_in_England_-_Exploring_the_Data_-_FULL_REPORT.pdf