Inside the ‘priority’ NHS services for migrants
Asylum seekers receiving ‘preferential medical treatment’ despite increasing wait times for Britons
JIM NORTON, SARAH KNAPTON
It’s Thursday evening, just before 10pm, and the A&E at University College Hospital in central London is heaving.
All the seats are taken, leaving dozens of patients standing or perched on a ledge next to the window, visible to passers-by. There’s already a queue of around 70 patients, and it’s only likely to get longer as the night goes on.
It’s not an unusual sight in Britain. Official NHS figures reveal at least one in four people had to wait more than four hours to be seen in A&E in November. More than 45,000 patients were delayed longer than 12 hours.
Yet here at UCLH, there is one way you can get seen earlier. Indeed, for certain members of society, you can get assessed in just 15 minutes.
That privilege goes to undocumented migrants, as well as the homeless and drug addicts, according to its website. Under a scheme called 987 Inclusion Health, patients within those categories needing an “urgent” assessment can ask for an appointment at A&E and be bumped up the queue on arrival. After initial tests, they are taken directly to a consultant for a “more thorough evaluation”.
The initiative is aimed at patients who “struggle to attend A&E due to the long delays waiting to be seen”. And it is just one of several schemes set up across the UK focusing specifically on helping migrants arriving here to get better access to healthcare. Yet, at a time when the NHS is on its knees, dealing with underfunding and chronic staff shortages, critics have questioned whether it is fair that those without a right to live here have what appears to be a “priority” service in healthcare.
“This sums up broken Britain,” one said. Another accused the NHS of prioritising diversity over healthcare.
In south London, for example, special “walk-in services” at community day centres are on offer for refused asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. Here, they can receive a full health assessment, treatment of minor illnesses, and referrals to specialist services. In contrast, 15 per cent of locals had to wait at least a week before seeing a doctor in November.
In Stoke-on-Trent, an NHS team is on hand to “help failed asylum seekers, many of whom are homeless and destitute with no recourse to public funds”, access a GP and dentist. A survey in 2022 found 73 per cent of people in the city struggled to see an NHS dentist.
“It is outrageous that those here illegally are prioritised over British taxpayers, and it reinforces, once again, the concern that the NHS has become an international service, not a national health service,” says Steve Barclay, the former health secretary. “There should not be preferential treatment for those here illegally at our expense, and I think the public will be outraged to discover that’s the case. NHS England should give clear answers as to why.”
It comes as immigration numbers are soaring, with last year seeing the second-highest number of small boat arrivals on record.
Almost a third more migrants crossed the Channel in small boats after Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street in July than in the same period in 2023, Home Office statistics revealed this week.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said last month that the Government had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings, but has failed to set a timetable for when a target for numbers to fall “sharply” would be met.
In the UK, refused asylum seekers can still register with a GP and receive primary care free of charge, regardless of their immigration status. In Scotland and Wales, they are also entitled to free hospital care on the same terms as any other ordinary resident. In England, any A&E visit is still free, and so too is any diagnosis and treatment of an infectious disease. Any further treatment, though, is charged at 150 per cent of the national NHS rate. However, patients can be exempt from this, too, if they can prove they are unable to return to their home country, or are receiving help from the local authority due to a disability or being made homeless.
[…] Dr Karol Sikora, the leading cancer specialist, questioned prioritising “certain categories” of people to the front of the queue on a “misguided diversity agenda”.
“The only prioritisation in health care should be the urgency of medical need, especially in the Emergency Department,” he said.
The Telegraph: continue reading
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