3. Mr E complains on behalf of his mother, Ms E, that University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust), quoted a charge of £900 for care given between July 2020 and August 2020, but then charged £6029.30 after discharge.
4. Mr E says they were shocked and surprised at the higher costs and the family will struggle to pay the higher bill.
5. As an outcome, Mr E would like the Trust to reconsider the care costs.
6. Ms E was admitted to the Trust after an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) in July 2020. Ms E had critical coronary disease. An angiogram was completed. It was identified immediate treatment was needed as Ms E was at significant risk of harm. Mr E was told the cost of the angiogram was £900.
7. In October 2020, Mr E received an invoice for Ms E’s treatment, totaling £6,029.30.
NHS treatment charges
10. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. Having done this, we have not found any indications that something has gone wrong.
11. Mr E complains the Trust quoted his mother, Ms E, a charge of £900 for care given between July 2020 and August 2020, but then charged £6,029.30 after her discharge from hospital.
12. The Trust said Mr E was told of the £900 charge and made aware this only covered the cost of the initial treatment. It said Mr E was informed that costs would rise if additional treatment was given. The Trust apologised if this was not made clear to Mr E.
13. The ‘Rights and pledges covering access to health services’ section of the Handbook to the NHS Constitution for England states NHS services are generally free of charge apart from in certain exceptions. It outlines one of these exceptions as being overseas visitors. This is in line with Section 175 of the National Health Service Act 2006, which states non-UK residents may be charged for NHS treatment. Also, ‘NHS England, Who Pays? Determining responsibility for payments to providers’, 2013, explains overseas visitors do not pay for emergency treatment given in an A&E department but do pay for emergency treatment given after admission as an inpatient.
14. Mr E’s mother was visiting the UK when she needed NHS treatment. This must have been stressful for Mr E. We recognise Mr E is not disputing the charge but that the total charge is higher than he was told. This means Mr E does not dispute he had a conversation with the Assistant Health Records Manager in July 2020. Unfortunately, there is no documented record of this conversation. Mr E agrees he was told there would be a charge for the angiogram treatment, therefore we deem he would be aware there would be an additional charge for any further treatment. Consequently, this would lead to a larger total treatment invoice which we appreciate may have been difficult to receive. Also, this emergency treatment was given after Mr E’s mother was admitted to the Trust so the Trust can charge for this.
15. While we acknowledge this additional charge may not have been made explicitly clear to Mr E, he will have been aware of the need to pay for NHS treatment. Therefore, as the Trust has acted in line with the National Health Service Act 2006, and NHS England regulations, there are no indications that anything went wrong in the complaint.
1. We have carefully considered Mr E’s complaint about University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). We have seen no indication that anything went seriously wrong.
2. We found Mr E was informed his mother would have to pay for an angiogram as she was visiting the UK when she needed NHS treatment. We deem Mr E would be aware of additional charges for further treatment. We recognise it may have been difficult for Mr E when he received the substantial additional charge. The Trust’s decision to charge for NHS treatment is in line with the National Health Service Act 2006, and NHS England regulations. Therefore, there are no indications anything went wrong in the complaint.