NHS entitlements for migrants: the current situation is an injustice

[Northerner]

If we reduce migrants' access to GPs we increase the amount of disease within the population and drive up admissions to A&E

Migrants already have significantly less entitlement to use the NHS than the general population. Their current situation is an injustice, and they are suffering the constant threat of further restriction. Prime minister David Cameron has accused some foreign nationals of taking advantage of public services including the NHS and has said the government is looking for ways to make them pay for access.

As the situation stands, on primary care settings, applications to be put onto patient lists are accepted at the discretion of the practice. Anyone can approach a practice, but the practice is able to decline registration and therefore treatment, providing the grounds for declining the applicant are reasonable ? not living within the catchment area, for example.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcar.../nhs-entitlement-migrants-situation-injustice

 

[FM001]

some good points but the nhs is already overloaded and struggling without more people coming in, waiting lists are on the up and you do have to question if its right that someone who's paid their taxes all their lives should wait behind people who have entered the country as a health tourist or just migrated here from another country.

omg, sound like a tory politician here😱

 

[novorapidboi26]

omg, sound like a tory politician here😱

accept it and enjoy it.....

 

[Northerner]

some good points but the nhs is already overloaded and struggling without more people coming in, waiting lists are on the up and you do have to question if its right that someone who's paid their taxes all their lives should wait behind people who have entered the country as a health tourist or just migrated here from another country.

omg, sound like a tory politician here😱

I think the main point is that it is misrepresenting the scale of the problem, just as those fraudulently claiming benefits are actually a tiny minority of the total cost. I'm sure that hundreds of millions are lost from the NHS not from treating migrants but from people not turning up for appointments, or calling emergency services/turning up at A&E for trivial matters or easily avoidable problems. No doubt the people who waste resources in this way are the first to whinge that migrants are freeloading.

It's interesting, but I worked on travel insurance systems for a short period, and part of my work was to implement exclusions because so many people were taking holidays/insurance simply to gain access to healthcare outside the UK (usually the USA).