<text>  A retired teacher was sent an NHS bill after he received hospital treatment in England because he lived in Wales. Nicholas White, 64, was taken ill while visiting relatives in Cambridgeshire in December. He was stunned when staff at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, near Huntingdon, said he would be getting a bill for almost 2,000 in the post because he was technically a foreigner. Nicholas White, 64, from north Wales, was taken ill while visiting relatives in Cambridgeshire. After a three-day stay at Hinchingbrooke Hospital he was sent a bill for 1,775 because he was classed as a foreigner The hospital have since apologised, and claim they explained to Mr White that he could pass the bill on to his GP so they could arrange for it to be paid by the local health board. However last week Mr White was shocked when he received an unsettling demand in the post saying that the 1,775 bill was overdue. It was very stressful, he said, adding: Ive worked for 40-plus years and always paid my taxes, so to be suddenly told that I was going to be charged for treatment on the NHS was shocking. I was infuriated. Hinchingbrooke Hospital has admitted that the invoice was sent to Mr White in error and should have been sent to his local health authority . Mr White, who lives in the village of Dyffryn Ardudwy in North Wales, fell ill while visiting relatives shortly before Christmas and spent three days undergoing tests at Hinchingbrooke Hospital the first NHS hospital to be run by a private company. Mr White said: I was told that because I was Welsh I counted as a foreigner and would have to pay He was released, but several weeks later was offered a gastroscopy, where doctors put a camera into a stomach to identify any problems. Moments before the procedure in January, Mr White claims he was ushered into a side room by an administrator and told he would be sent a bill for the examination and his previous stay. The father-of-two said: She said that because I lived in Wales I was technically a foreigner and would be sent a bill my wife nearly fell off her chair. For them to have been talking to me about payment moments before they took me for treatment was totally wrong. A few weeks after the procedure, which found he was suffering from a hernia, Mr White received a bill for 1,775 marked important. Initially he didnt worry too much as his GP had told him that the health board would deal with the invoice, so he simply passed it onto his surgery. But last week he was sent a reminder which said the balance was overdue. A spokesman for Hinchingbrooke NHS Trust denied referring to Mr White as a foreigner and claimed they sent him the invoice at the request of his GP surgery. They added: We agreed with the GP that we would send the invoice directly to the patient, and he would pass it on to the practice. Were sorry if there was any confusion. But a spokesman for the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board said: The invoice should have been sent to the health board. We would have paid it directly, without involving the patient. 