The most senior official in the Department of Health, Chris Wormald, told MPs yesterday that he was considering asking hospitals to check patients’ passports to find out whether they should be paying for NHS care. In doing so, Wormald may not have been trying to make anti-migrant political capital. But he certainly generated plenty of it.
The implicit message in his disclosure is that we are being overrun with health tourists who are fleecing our cash-strapped NHS and that we must protect what is rightfully ours.
But there were a few things Wormald failed to mention. The number of migrants who pay their way when they use the NHS, for instance, and how many with serious health conditions are denied NHS treatment in a system policed in an increasingly zealous way.
London has the largest number of migrants of any UK city. In 2014, a series of freedom of information requests I made to 20 London hospitals revealed that many had received substantial payments from overseas visitors using the NHS, and that debts from this group of patients were relatively small – too small, perhaps, to justify introducing a vast and expensive new layer of bureaucracy to police and intimidate patients. Many migrants now have to pay a health surcharge and have been doing so since April 2015 as a condition of living here.
What is the definition of a health tourist? Someone who gets on a boat or a plane with the sole purpose of using NHS services on arrival here? Or is it also someone who is in the UK from overseas and then falls ill while they are here?
One man who falls into the latter category is an asylum seeker who was tortured in his home country in west Africa. His asylum claim was refused and he is preparing a fresh bid based on new evidence. He does not qualify for NHS treatment as a refused asylum seeker. In 2013, a charity gave him a bike because he could not afford public transport. He was hit by a car in January 2014 and badly injured. Of course he did not ask to be hit by the car, nor did he plan to use any NHS services at all when he set off on his bike on that fateful day.
As usual with all matters migration, a sense of proportion has been lost here. Populism has tossed morality aside
The London hospital he was admitted to made sure he received nothing more than the basic emergency treatment that everyone is entitled to (although this too may change). He was denied surgery for the chronic and painful injuries he was left with. Since then he has been disabled, in agony and can only walk short distances with the help of a crutch. Yesterday he received a settlement from the insurance company of the driver who injured him. He pursued the claim in order to pay the NHS for the treatment he desperately needs. Although he is destitute, he will be making a net contribution to the NHS.
Another asylum seeker gave birth to twins who were treated for a few days in a special care baby unit. She was sent a bill she could not pay, because as an asylum seeker she is not allowed to work. She is a deeply religious Christian and was so distraught about the bill that she set her alarm at intervals through the night so she could get up and pray that somehow the debt would vanish. She lived in terror of the consequences of not paying the bill. Eventually the NHS wrote off the debt, accepting that as an asylum seeker who is banned from working she could not pay.
The National Audit Office estimates that the uncollected fees are £200m a year, which is around 1% of the current NHS debt. And that figure does not take into account the extra income from those who are paying for their NHS treatment.
As usual with all matters migration, a sense of proportion has been lost here. Populism has tossed morality and ethics out of the window. As Dr Ben White tweeted: “Well, I won’t be asking anyone for their passport before resuscitating them, thanks.”
The hostility towards migrants is piling up. It used to be the job of the Home Office alone to police immigration, but now schools, health professionals, landlords and others have been co-opted, whether they like it or not. Passport checking may save the NHS a few pence as long as the cost of administering such a system does not outweigh these slender savings.
But what is the cost of the humanity we are losing in the process? And what is the deficit in decency and solidarity with other members of the human race? That deficit is piling up and the negative consequences are not just for migrants, but for everyone who inhabits this country.
NHS passport-checking might save a few pence – at the cost of our humanity | Diane Taylor
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder