UK BORDER chiefs were this week promising to deport an illegal immigrant who has remained at the borough’s main hospital for more than a year after being declared fit to leave - at a cost of £100,000 to taxpayers.

The patient, a Pakistani national whose visa to visit the UK expired four years ago in September 2007, was transferred from a London hospital to Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital in July last year and by August 2010 he was declared fit for release.

But Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Paula Clark says the hospital has been powerless to discharge the patient because they have been waiting for the UK Border Agency to secure a date and an airline to transport the man back to his home country.

In frustration she contacted Stourbridge MP Margot James who, after raising the matter during Home Office Questions on Tuesday (September 13), was told by the Immigration Minister the patient will finally be sent back to Pakistan next week.

The Conservative MP branded the situation “an appalling case of bureaucratic inertia”.

But UK Border Agency chiefs have defended themselves, saying they “have been doing everything possible” to bring about a conclusion to the case which they became aware of in December 2010.

A spokesman said: “The UK Border Agency has been working since this case was first brought to our attention, to make arrangements to remove this man.

“But this has proved an exceptional, medically complex, case. As well as identifying appropriate medical escorts and an airline willing to carry the man, we have had to make arrangements for medical care by the man’s family in Pakistan.”

The spokesman added that it had not been possible to release the man into an immigration removal centre as, despite being equipped to deal with short-term care and medical emergencies, “none are geared up to deal with this particular individual’s needs”.

He said although declared medically fit for discharge - the man, who was treated at the Royal London Hospital for a heart attack and brain injury before being transferred to Dudley where it was believed he had an address, still required ongoing nursing care.

He continued: “The man’s doctor also advised that, while his patient would be able to travel on a plane, he would need a medical escort, possibly two, with him and he would need to travel lying down on a stretcher.”

Gail Adams, UK Border Agency regional director, stressed the “complex case” had been taken seriously.

She said: “The NHS is a national, not an international, health service and we will not tolerate its abuse which is why arrangements for removal have been made.

"We will remove those not entitled to remain in the country, even where medically difficult, and will provide medical escorts to remove those undergoing treatment if needed."

Stourbridge Tory Ms James, however, said the failings in the case were because the man was not sent home when his visa expired four years ago and then when he got sick “the UK Border Agency and Pakistan International Airlines couldn’t get their act together”.

The MP said she would be following up on the matter to make sure the man is finally returned to Pakistan next week.