Claims leaving the EU would pay for more nurses, midwives and GPs

Foreigners will be banned from entering Britain unless they have health insurance, under Ukip plans announced today.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage set out a raft of new policies on improving the nation's health, including more dementia funding, scrapping hospital parking charges and hiring more nurses, midwives and GPs.

But the party's health spokesman has faced questions about whether Mr Farage's reputation for smoking and posing drinking beer in pubs is the best advertisement for a healthy lifestyle.

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Nigel Farage used a speech today in Rochester to hit back at claims Ukip wanted to privatise the NHS

Today's policy launch move is part of a strategy by Ukip - which is largely associated with campaigning to leave the European Union and control immigration - to show that it has a fully worked-out programme for government.

In doing so, however, it will inevitably open itself up to greater scrutiny by the media and by its political rivals.

A flagship policy will be forcing migrants, students and visitors to show they have approved medical insurance before they are allowed into Britain as part of the crackdown on 'health tourism'.

The party's health spokesman Louise Bours will claim the move will stop up to £2billion being lost every year because of foreigners using the NHS to get treatment or prescriptions.

In a speech unveiling the party's plans for the health service today, the Ukip MEP will warn 'it's the NHS itself that needs emergency care and nursing back to health'.

Under the plans, foreigners will only be entitled to free healthcare after they have contributed through taxation for five years. It would apply to anyone wanting to come to Britain if it is outside the the European Union.

Mr Farage has previously suggested a move towards an insurance based health system, but Miss Bours said yesterday there will be 'absolutely not a whiff of privatisation' in the proposals.

Today the Ukip leader hit out at Labour claims that the party backed privatisation. He said: 'Ukip is committed to an NHS that is free at the point of access and paid for out of taxation, full stop.

'But just because we believe in the NHS it doesn't mean we can't be critical of certain aspects of it. Certainly what we have seen over the last few years is a huge increase in money but not always a compensating increase in productivity.'

Ukip leader Nigel Farage set out his party's health policies, but questions have been raised about his own unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking

The party said it will use £200million of the saving to end hospital car parking charges in England.

Explaining the proposals to make health insurance mandatory for foreigners, Miss Bours told Murnaghan on Sky News: 'I think as Britons when we go abroad, if we travel abroad as a visitor or worker, I think Britons as a matter of course purchase life insurance or medical insurance or baggage insurance, I think it's something that we do quite naturally, we don't even think about it.

'What we are saying is, what is the problem in asking people to do exactly the same when they come here? So if you are a migrant worker or a visitor or a student, you should have medical insurance, that is absolutely fundamental.

'I think the easiest way to do that, it should be a condition of entry into the country through the visa process.'

Ukip will also pledge to provide an extra 20,000 nurses, 3,000 midwives and 8,000 GPs through an annual £3billion funding boost for the NHS it says will be paid for with savings made by leaving the European Union.

The focus on health pits Ukip against Labour, which has vowed to make the NHS a central feature of its election campaign.

But Mr Farage's image as a smoker and drinker appears at odds with the idea of putting him in charge of the nation's health.

Challenged about her leader's unhealthy habits, Miss Bours admitted that the party had to focus on 'prevention' of drink and smoking-related illnesses.

She told Sky News: 'Well Nigel obviously went all of January without one drink entirely… But seriously, absolutely, we have to look at prevention.

'I think that 70 per cent of things that are treated on the NHS are preventative. We have to look at how we put out a really good positive message, however does that mean that I believe in a nanny state where we order people not to drink?

'You know, people, we are adults, we must make our own choices and I think that's very important but absolutely, we have to look at that kind of thing, prevention. Obesity as well is obviously a big one that we're going to have to look at.'

Ukip health spokesman Louise Bours said Mr Farage had managed to give up drinking for January, but conceded that the party's policy had to focus on preventable illnesses

Miss Bours, a former actress, added that she has a 'unique view' on the NHS, because she has never worked in healthcare.

She said: 'I think that actually gives me a unique view because I am looking at it from the same as everybody else, the users' point of view and what the people want.'

Mr Farage used his speech to set out Ukip's plans to invest an additional £3billion in front-line NHS services.

Well Nigel obviously went all of January without one drink entirely… But seriously, absolutely, we have to look at prevention Ukip MEP Louise Bours

Among the measures to be unveiled is a commitment to invest £650million in dementia research over the lifetime of the parliament - more than double the amount pledged by David Cameron at the weekend.

Under the party's plans, the Care Quality Commission watchdog would be abolished and responsibility for hospital inspections passed to local health boards which would be encouraged to take evidence from whistle-blowers and patients with grievances.

Hospital managers would have to be licensed in the same way as doctors and nurses in a move which the party says is designed to 'negate the drift' of disgraced hospital managers who are fired from one job only to take up another elsewhere in the NHS.

Tuition fees for medical students would be scrapped on what the party says would be a means-tested basis, and less highly qualified state enrolled nurses (SENs) reintroduced in a drive to encourage more 'home-grown medical talent'.

The party also says that merging health and social care would be a priority, with funding for social care for the elderly raised to £1 billion a year.

Labour frontbencher Jon Trickett said: 'Ukip has a long-standing record of support for increased NHS privatisation and NHS charging.