[Margaret Pilkington]

Neil, if my GP sends me to hospital or to a clinic, it is because I am entitled to treatment.
I have been registered with the practice since the early eighties.
If I go to some other location...the Isle of Wight for instance, I can prove who I am with my NI number...I can prove I have paid into the system which I wish to access.
I think we have trodden this ground before.

The point is that hospitals are very poor at collecting their dues when it is blatantly obvious that the person being treated needs to be billed.

Maybe things have changed at out local hospital, but somehow, I very much doubt it.