NHS border regime needs urgent rethink

NHS border regime needs urgent rethink

On the day it comes into force, the new NHS identity check system is already unravelling.

A former NHS chief executive and hundreds of medical professionals have pleaded with the government to change course, and new research suggests pregnant and seriously ill migrants are already going without medical care due to fear of the new system.

Hospitals are no place for border controls, and with an estimated third of vulnerable migrants saying that they are being deterred from seeking medical help, the policy may put wider public health at risk and place additional pressure on strained emergency services rather than preventive services.

It’s not too late to change course. We urge the Health Secretary and Home Office to listen to both doctors and their patients, and to rethink their broader strategy to create a “hostile environment” for migrants which is damaging cohesion, making people’s lives difficult and dangerous, and forcing unwanted border control duties on ordinary people.