Statement by NHS workers opposed to the government's plans to charge non-EU migrants for use of the NHS
We completely oppose the proposals from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to charge non-EU migrants for using the NHS.
When the NHS was created on 5th July 1948, one of its founding principles was universal health care. This meant that everyone in Britain had the same access to the health service. Nye Bevan explicitly refuted the argument that foreign visitors should not benefit from the health service funded by UK taxation.
Bevan wrote "How do we distinguish a visitor from anybody else? Are British citizens to carry means of identification everywhere to prove that they are not visitors? What began as an attempt to keep the Health Service for ourselves would end by being a nuisance to everybody. The whole agitation has a nasty taste. Instead of rejoicing at the opportunity to practice a civilized principle, Conservatives have tried to exploit the most disreputable emotions in this among many other attempts to discredit socialized medicine."
Discriminating against non-EU migrants is racist. It is completely contrary to the medical ethics of clinical staff. On public health grounds, the proposals are a disaster. Health professionals do not want illness to go undiagnosed. They want everyone in Britain to feel encouraged to access treatment, in their own interest and in the interest of everyone's health.
We completely oppose the proposals from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to charge non-EU migrants for using the NHS.
When the NHS was created on 5th July 1948, one of its founding principles was universal health care. This meant that everyone in Britain had the same access to the health service. Nye Bevan explicitly refuted the argument that foreign visitors should not benefit from the health service funded by UK taxation.
Bevan wrote "How do we distinguish a visitor from anybody else? Are British citizens to carry means of identification everywhere to prove that they are not visitors? What began as an attempt to keep the Health Service for ourselves would end by being a nuisance to everybody. The whole agitation has a nasty taste. Instead of rejoicing at the opportunity to practice a civilized principle, Conservatives have tried to exploit the most disreputable emotions in this among many other attempts to discredit socialized medicine."
Discriminating against non-EU migrants is racist. It is completely contrary to the medical ethics of clinical staff. On public health grounds, the proposals are a disaster. Health professionals do not want illness to go undiagnosed. They want everyone in Britain to feel encouraged to access treatment, in their own interest and in the interest of everyone's health.
The Conservative-LibDem Coalition's proposal to charge non-EU migrants for NHS care is a cynical attempt to divert people's attention from the real source of the problems affecting the health service. It is also the thin end of a thick wedge.
