No NHS Vulnerable Migrants - Action of the Week

Written by Kiran Cheedella, about 1 year ago | Permalink | Project: Global Health Advocacy Project

As the half million denied access (and those mistakenly denied access) suffer higher rates of commincable diseases due to poverty, this puts icreaseing pressure on public health- effecting us all. We all know the pressures on the NHS funds- well charging has proved more costly to the NHS as patients will now only present when severely ill in the ED- for which treatment they are entitled but expected to pay for later! There is also the moral issue- how can we accept a policies which trap people in our country, with no access to food, shelter and finally.... healthcare!

Please act now! 5 things you can do!

  1. Sign the statement on line at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/access/

Or

Print out the statement sign it and return as indicated

  1. Send an email to the Secretary of State for Health expressing your concern at the proposed changes. Please write the email in a way that makes clear your own concerns on this matter http://voiceyourviews.net/eactivist/vyv.v?v=2121:861:14332:

  2. A briefing paper explaining the proposed changes and their potential impact along with copies of the statement to download are available from the Medact website: http://www.medact.org/refentitlementpage.php

  3. If you are a health professional please consider contacting your professional organisation and ask them to speak out on this issue

  4. Discuss this issue with colleagues who may not be aware of the review and its possible implications

The statement:

We the undersigned strongly oppose the proposal that General Practitioners, and other primary care staff, be forced to charge refused asylum seekers or other undocumented migrants for NHS care. Any such requirement would:

  • Deny vulnerable and often destitute individuals the chance to identify serious and sometimes life-threatening conditions which need immediate treatment

  • Contribute to maternal and infant mortality by delaying or preventing access to maternity care

  • Condemn many children to a life without primary healthcare, inevitably resulting for some in serious illness and death

  • Increase the likelihood of serious communicable diseases such as TB and HIV going undiagnosed and being transmitted, thus endangering public health

  • Remove an important source of support for women experiencing domestic abuse

  • Increase avoidable costs to the NHS resulting from late diagnosis and additional administration, and increase avoidable admissions to hospital

  • Overburden Accident and Emergency Departments both with those who should be treated (at significantly less cost) in primary care and with those who have become seriously ill because primary care was unavailable

  • Deny GPs their current discretion to judge how best to meet the healthcare needs of their local population

  • Breach basic international human rights obligations of the UK and entrench discrimination in the NHS

« Back to the rest of the news