GP leaders have reacted in dismay to government proposals to press on with requiring practices to charge overseas visitors for care.

The plan was contained in the Queen’s Speech published yesterday.

The Royal College of GPs said it would add paperwork to practices at a time when the Government had promised to reduce it.

The speech also confirmed proposals to introduce a tax on sugary drinks. And the government said it would press on with its plans to introduce more seven-day working in the NHS.

Royal College of GPs chair Dr Maureen Baker said: “GPs and our teams will be left doing the grunt work: explaining to patients what is bound to be a very complicated system; ticking more boxes at a time when we are calling for unnecessary bureaucracy in general practice to be reduced; and ultimately taking us away from delivering frontline patient care when demand is at an all-time high.”

She added: “This fundamentally changes one of the founding principles of the NHS – that care is delivered free at the point of need.

“We question how cost-effective this legislation will be given that the Government’s own impact assessment found that, even in the best case scenario, economic benefits for the health service would be minimal. It would also be a very real public health risk to have people living with potentially contagious diseases, because they are deterred from seeking healthcare because of cost.

“The College recognises that the NHS must not be abused and measures need to be taken to tackle health tourism, but doctors have a duty of care to all people seeking healthcare and must not be expected to police the system or prevent people from getting medical help when they are at their most vulnerable.”

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