Subject: DOH:ID CARDS WOULD BENEFIT NHS - HUTTON

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
2004/0151                                                         27 April 2004 
ID CARDS WOULD BENEFIT NHS - HUTTON


Following evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee today, Health Minister John Hutton said:

"The NHS is already under a clear legal obligation to make sure that free at the point of use services are only provided to those who are entitled to them. NHS resources are finite, and free care given to those who are not entitled to it takes away resources from those who are entitled.

"ID cards will help staff to discharge their legal duty to check the eligibility or otherwise of patients to free NHS treatment. They will act as a deterrent to abuse of NHS resources.

"Confirming entitlement will be much more straightforward for the NHS. Biometric identifiers would prevent identity fraud. Information on current immigration and residence status would be comprehensive and up to date. Our aim will be to maximise benefits and minimise costs so we will look carefully to see what level of checks would be appropriate in each circumstance.

"Although there are certain groups who will be eligible for free treatment but who will not have registered for ID cards, such as short-term visitors from EU countries, they will be able to prove their eligibility on production of their passport or, in the near future, their EU health card. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the infirm and the mentally ill could be exempted from the requirement to register if this was thought to be desirable. 

"As we have made clear in the past, there will be no question of stopping people who need emergency treatment receiving that treatment in a timely way. No one will be denied emergency treatment because they have failed to produce an ID card or to prove their eligibility in any other way. People with certain communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, will also be treated regardless of their eligibility, on public health grounds.

"ID cards would help us meet our responsibilities to ensure that the resources of the NHS are used in providing care for those who are legally entitled to receive them and not spent on those who are not. 
They will reduce the existing burden on frontline staff of checking numerous documents to determine eligibility for free treatment, since in many cases the information available through the ID card alone will suffice, and it is a very robust means of proving identity. I believe that ID cards would make the job of the NHS much easier in ensuring that only those entitled to free treatment receive it."

Notes to Editors

1. For media enquiries ONLY please contact Brad Smythe on 020 7210 5301 or Lizzy Bell on 020 7210 5222



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