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Government cracks down on NHS tourists
30 Dec 2003
The government today launched a crackdown on so-called "NHS tourists" in the UK. According to Health Secretary Dr John Reid, thousands of people a year are taking their holidays in NHS facilities, including hospitals, doctors' surgeries and managers' offices, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds.
"There is absolutely no excuse for people trying to take their holidays in NHS facilities," he said. "A hospital is a medical facility where doctors and nurses and managers work – it is not Blackpool beach!"
Dr Reid said new regulations would stop the expensive trend. From the New Year, security guards will be placed outside all entrances to NHS buildings with equipment similar to that seen in airports. They will scan all incoming "patients", checking for telltale signs of tourism. "This might be something as small as a bucket and spade or as large as a collection of leather suitcases packed with clothes," Dr Reid warned. "The guards will remain vigilant and prevent anyone who looks like a tourist from entering NHS facilities."
"The NHS is there for everyone, but it must not be misused by the minority," he continued. "If these people want to have a holiday then they should go to a proper holiday destination, like Egypt where the Prime Minister is at the moment, or a caravan park where Margaret Beckett goes."
Health experts say the problem came to a head when NHS tourists, fed up with the crowded conditions in hospitals, started taking their holidays in managers' offices, and even at the Department of Health in London. "Dr Reid arrived for work one day and found a family from Birmingham camped out in his office," said Douglas Ramsbottom of Health Tourism Monthly. "They were cooking breakfast on a small gas stove, which set the fire alarm off, and had started a toilet in his wastepaper bin. He wasn't best pleased and decided enough was enough."
The government is now pleading with coach companies to discontinue their popular "hospital tour" weekend breaks.
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Look at this, moron.
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