[BBKing]

This does, of course, all happen in reverse as well, since we can all get treatment free abroad.

My main point, I suppose, is that far from us being the poor put upon British mugs of tabloid fury, used and abused by horrible nasty foreigners, we're a) taking doctors and nurses from abroad because they're cheap*, thus leaving poorer countries with worse healthcare and b) going abroad to save money, thus using other people's healthcare services. Something doesn't quite add up here, if we're saving money and expanding capacity with all these imported doctors, why aren't there enough dentists such that people are forced to travel a thousand miles across Europe?

* This is rather bad news for British trainee medics, who after last year's debacle where there were twice as many people as posts and the idiotic MMC system meant that unsuitable candidates ended up getting interviews, this year it's going to be *three* times. At least Patricia Hewitt's gone.