GP surgeries deny care to vulnerable people without ID documents

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Northerner

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GPs are wrongly denying care to homeless people, travellers and recent arrivals into the UK by telling them to produce photographic identification or proof of address before they can register or get urgent treatment.

Sex workers and drug users are also being prevented from accessing GP surgeries for the same reason, according to findings published in the British Journal of General Practice.

Three-quarters of 100 London GP surgeries are breaching NHS guidelines by insisting on their websites that people need proof of identity and residence in the area before they can be admitted to their list of patients.

Patients are being wrongly told to comply with such requirements even though they breach guidelines drawn up by the General Medical Council and British Medical Association, as well as NHS England, the researchers found. Some surgeries may also be acting illegally by linking the ability to register with someone’s immigration and ethnicity, in breach of the Equality Act 2010, they said.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/24/gp-surgeries-deny-care-to-vulnerable-people-without-id-documents
 
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