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FOI Request

Disclosure ID
FOI/02339
Request Date
April 6, 2018
Subject
Overseas Visitors
Description
  1. Please tell me whether the trust carries out routine identity checks on patients attending outpatient appointments to ascertain whether they are ordinarily resident in the UK.
  2. If yes, please answer the following questions:
    A) Which patients undergo such checks? ( – eg all those attending first appointment for a new care pathway)
    B) Please state what forms of documentation they have to provide? (eg passports, proof of address)
    C) What happens if they cannot provide proof of being ordinarily resident?
  3. Please also state how many Overseas Visitor Managers (OVMs) or Overseas Visitor Officers (OVOs) are employed by the trust (Please state as Full Time Equivalent)
  4. Please state the highest bill which is still outstanding owed by an overseas visitor for a) 2017/18 to date and b)2016/17.
  5. In relation to question 4, please broadly state the nature of the treatment (eg ophthalmology, kidney dialysis, obstetrics) and the nationality of the patient, if known
Response
  1. Yes
  2. Every patient who attends for an Outpatient appointment is asked at every appointment if they are permanently resident in the UK. In addition all new patients to the hospital (never previously been under Blackpool Teaching Hospitals care) are checked. If they are an in-patient or an out-patient a member of the Overseas Visiting Team will attend to meet the patient face-to-face. If we are unable to meet them (eg weekend admission and discharge) then we write to the patient asking for their documentation.
    In the first instance we ask for proof of residency (eg council tax, utility bill, driving licence) and proof of nationality (eg passport, id card). In addition to this we may require additional documentation to support the criteria that the patient is ordinarily resident in the UK.
    Department of Health guidelines state that it is the patients responsibility to provide documentation as evidence that they are ordinarily resident in the UK and legally entitled to live in the UK. We will work with the patient to assist them on the different types of documents we can accept.
  3. Staffing is from the Private Patient and Overseas Visitors Team and is 1.3 FTE (OVM 0.3FTE) OVO (1.0 FTE)
  4. 2016/2017 £12,769.01
    2017/2018 £7,373.54
  5. Both invoices relate to Cardiac activity
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