In a letter published in The Evening Standard over 150 healthcare professionals call for the scrapping of healthcare charges and ID checks for migrants in the NHS.
Dear Editor,
As healthcare workers we are concerned about your report (29 May 2018) demonstrating the tiny proportion of chargeable patients identified by recent ID checks in the NHS. ID checks and charging deter vulnerable people from seeking help when they are unwell. What is more, as we have seen with the Windrush generation, determining eligibility is not easy and further entrenches discrimination already faced by some communities. Deterring people from healthcare delays care which causes harm to individuals, threatens public health and costs more. As healthcare workers we must ‘do no harm’. These discriminatory policies turn healthcare workers into border guards, and undermine our duty of care as well as the founding principles of the NHS. The charging regulations must be scrapped immediately – healthcare must never be a ‘hostile environment’.
Signed:
Dr. Miriam Beeks, GP
Dr. Lisa Murphy, Foundation Doctor
Dr. Frank Arnold, Forensic medical practitioner
James Skinner, A&E Nurse
Dr. Joseph Freer, GPST1
Dr. Rebecca Marcus, SpR
Mrs. Esther Afari-Mensah, Public health professional
Dr. Huw Evans, Emergency Medicine Registrar
Dr. Helen Greener, Consultant in Gender Dysphoria
Dr. Aislinn Macklin-Doherty, Medical Oncology
Dr. John McKay, Doctor
Dr. Neal Russell, Doctor
Mr. Dev Lall, Surgeon
Dr. Victoria Ramsden, Doctor
Dr. Anant Patel, Consultant Physician
Dr. Hugo Farne, Respiratory Registrar
Dr. Claire Ferraro, Clinical Fellow in Integrated Sexual Health
Dr. Joseph Piper, Paediatric SHO
Dr. Anna Rom, GP
Dr. Maryam Omar, Medical Doctor
Professor Chris Griffiths, GP
Dr. Bernadette Borgstein, Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Emily Whitehouse, Paediatric registrar
Dr. James Smith, A&E Doctor
Dr. Jonathan Sturgeon, Paediatric Registrar
Dr. Sebastian Hormaeche, Trust Fellow
Dr. Kaveri Jalundhwala, SHO
Dr. Aaminah Verity, GPST2
Dr. Rita Issa, GP Registrar
Dr. Kitty Worthing, Doctor
Dr. Alex Smith, Specialty registrar, public health
Dr. Andy Young, Paediatric Trainee
Ms. Aedín O’Cuill, Final Year Medical Student
Dr. Stephen Hibbs, Haematology SpR
Mr. Siegfried Wagner, Academic Clinical Fellow in Ophthalmology
Dr. Sarah Finer Consultant, Diabetologist
Dr. Andrew Prendergast, Reader and Honorary Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Colin Brown, Consultant in Infectious Diseases
Dr. Carla Stephen, Consultant
Dr. Dominik Zenner, GP
Dr. Elizabeth Hubbard, GP
Dr. Salman Haider, Neurology Registrar
Dr. Paul Greaves, Consultant Haematologist
Dr. William Ricketts, Consultant Chest Physician
Dr. Katie Williams, GPST1
Dr. Ross Ford, Doctor of Emergency Medicine
Dr. Maryann Noronha, Doctor
Dr. Mary Kamara, Doctor
Dr. Jackie Applebee, GP
Dr. Christopher Wood, Consultant HIV Physician, North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust
Dr. David Kynaston, Doctor
Ms. Erin Dexter, Medical student, UCL Medical School
Dr. Soraya Boomla, GP
Dr. Sifot Ali, GP
Dr. Sarah Walpole, Trust doctor, Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Mrs. Hannah Basson, Allied Health Professional, Secretary Unite Gloucester Area Health Sector Branch
Dr. Helen Hammond, O&G registrar
Dr. Phillip Bennett-Richards, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr. Veronika Wagner, Registered medical practitioner
Dr. Clare Rollason, GPST3
Miss Aileen Ni Chaoilte, Sister/ Team Lead
Dr. Eilidh Renwick, GP
Ms. Ali Criado-Perez, Nurse, Humanitarian Aid
Ms. Rachel Childs, Student nurse
Dr. Liza Bowen, Doctor
Dr. Judith Main, GP
Dr. Anna E. Livingstone, GP
Dr. Richa Singh, Consultant Respiratory Physician
Dr. Dan Reisel, Hospital Doctor, Specialist Trainee
Dr. Cicely Cunningham, Doctor
Dr. Tehmina Bharucha, Specialist Trainee and Academic Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
Mrs. Annique Simpson, District Nurse
Dr. Amy Colori, Oncology registrar
Dr. Grant Ingrams, GP
Dr. Neil Tiwari, Core Trainee Anaesthetics
Professor Anita Berlin, GP & Professor of Primary Care Education
Rebecca Dalton, Fy1
Dr. Louise Hammersley, GP
Dr. Gemma Williams, Hospital Doctor
Dr. Alice Kociejowski, Doctor
Dr. Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki, GP
Dr. Samantha Batt-Rawden, Chair, The Doctors’ Association, UK EM/ICM Registrar
Dr. Ben Eder, Foundation Doctor
Dr. Jessica Potter, Respiratory Registrar
Dr. Chinedu Nwokoro, Consultant Paediatrician
Dr. Sara Swan, GP
Dr. Mike Fitchett, GP
Dr. Helen Burn, Ophthalmologist
Alice Blewitt, Medical student
Dr. Damien Ming, Medical Registrar
Dr. Aruna Dias, Consultant Gastroenterologist
Dr. Sarah Boutros, Paediatric Registrar
Professor Shirley Hodgson, Emeritus Professor of cancer genetics
Miss Selina Christy, Medical student
Dr. Joanna Dobbin, Academic Fy2 Doctor
Dr. Bryony Hopkinshaw, Junior doctor in Paediatrics
Dr. Alba Bajrami, Doctor
Dr. Huw Lewis, FY1 Doctor
Dr. Annabel Crowe, GP
Dr. Nathan Cantley, Academic FY2 Doctor
Mr. Jasper Jackson, CQC analyst
Mr. Jared Charlton-Webb, HCSW/Student
Ms. Florence Mutlow, Medical Student
Dr. John Robson, GP
Ms. Melanie Jenkins, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon
Dr. Jacky Davis, Consultant radiologist, BMA Council
Dr. David Wrigley, NHS GP and Chair of Doctors in Unite (Medical Practitioners Union)
Dr. Susanna Jane Bernal, Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr. Kailash Chand, Chair Healthwatch Tameside
Dr. Silas Webb, Foundation Doctor
Dr. Bronya Gorney, GP
Dr. Piyush Pushkar, Psychiatry CT3 doctor and Wellcome Trust Research Fellow
Dr. Laura Macfarlane, Respiratory SpR
Dr. Sophie Osbourne, GP
Dr. Zaineb Hafeez, Doctor
Dr. Carol Dezateux, Professor and Honorary Consultant
Dr. Felicia Yeung, Doctor
Dr. Stefan Ebmeier, Doctor
Miss Gemma Whyatt, Healthcare Assistant/Student Doctor
Dr. Clare Blackwell, Medical Registrar
Mr. Liban Ahmed, Medical Student
Dr. Hosnieh Djafari Marbini, Anaesthetic Consultant
Dr. Samson Williams, Foundation Doctor
Dr. Rinesh Parmar, Anaesthetic Registrar
Dr. Eleanor Jones, Consultant, Emergency Medicine
Shamira Bhikha, GP
Dr. Daniela Kirwan, Registrar
Dr. Francesca Burns, FY2 A&E
Dr. Christopher Stone, CT2 Anaesthetics
Dr. Bruno Gnaneswaran, FY1
Professor David McCoy, Professor of Global Public Health
Dr. Coral Jones, GP
Dr. Joseph Gafton, Doctor
Dr. Kirsten Shirke, GP
Dr. Helen Groom, GP retired
Dr. Jonathan Broad, Paediatrician
Dr. Aqilah Vilcassim, Doctor
Dr. Anna Lewis, Foundation Doctor
Dr. James Crane, Clinical Research Fellow
Dr. Sophie Williams, Doctor
Dr. Pam Wortley, Retired GP
Dr. Daniel Campion, Medical Practitioner
Dr. Oliver Johnson OBE, PhD Student
Dr. Alison Smailes, GP
Dr. Miriam Orcutt, Public health doctor
Dr. Shriya Vinod, GP
Dr. Tom Yates, Senior House Officer (Core Medical Training)
Dr. Jeremy Tong, Consultant Paediatric Intensivist
Dr. Jonathan Cunliffe, Junior Doctor
Dr. Penny Louch, Nurse Practitioner Partner
Dr. Robert Verrecchia, Public health doctor
Dr. John Puntis, Consultant paediatrician
Dr. Iram Siddiqui, Consultant
