Join Medact, Docs Not Cops, and Health Professionals for Global Health to find out about the impact of NHS charging regulations on migrants and the role healthcare workers have in improving access to care for all. This event will launch the Patient’s not Passports Toolkit and showcase a variety of speakers who will discuss how the policy may directly contravene the principles of universal healthcare.
“As a doctor I find it appalling that my employer could encourage me to provide substandard care for a patient because of their nationality. Recently I saw ‘cost recovery staff’ document in a very sick young female’s notes that staff should “refrain from providing non-urgent treatment because she is chargeable for her care and has not yet paid a deposit”. Patients will suffer. Either through direct clinical neglect, or (more likely) through delayed presentation to health services due to fear of financial ruin or being reported to authorities.”
“The overseas team have come onto my ward to deliver invoices to a patient’s bedside. I was shocked that they would approach a patient at their most vulnerable. I’ve also heard about pregnant women having their care delayed or booking at the last minute. I dread to think what kind of impact this will be having.”
On Tuesday 24 July, Medact supported healthcare workers and humanitarians to return their government honours in protest at the ‘hostile environment’ policies in the NHS.
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.
Despite a staff shortfall, the government has blocked visas for 400 doctors recruited by the NHS. Is government prioritising its commitment to immigration controls over patient well-being and public health?
Medact and over 30 organisations send an open letter to the Department of Health and Social Care to express our concerns about their limited review into the latest changes to healthcare charging.
A junior doctor writes about the harm to patients caused by the latest changes to the NHS regulations expanding the scope of charging migrants for healthcare, arguing that it complicates crucial decisions made by health professionals.
What price are NHS health professionals willing to pay for a more ‘affordable’ service?