Happy Birthday NHS

It is heartening to see so many celebrations of the NHS’s 70th birthday, including this month’s editorial. In it, the author asserts, “the NHS still protects the vulnerable and takes away the fear of the financial consequences of illness”. This, sadly, couldn’t be further from the truth. On the NHS’s 70th birthday, its founding principles are being eroded as demonstrated by the recent Windrush scandal. The introduction of the ‘hostile environment’ into the NHS has led to the denial of even life-saving treatment for people unable to prove their immigration status.

The NHS charges to overseas visitors amendment, October 2017, enforces immigration checks and upfront charging of 150% before treatment to those not ordinarily resident in the UK. This regressive and inhumane policy denies much needed care to society's most vulnerable. It shockingly includes charges for antenatal care, termination of pregnancy, paediatric and cancer treatment. It jeopardises the patient-doctor relationship, encourages racial profiling and adds further bureaucratic burden that will almost certainly cost more than it returns. It's exemptions for certain groups, like victims of modern slavery, are unworkable whilst even those eligible for care are often scared to access it. This policy puts the public's health at risk by making the management of infectious disease even more challenging. It denies people cheaper, preventative care thereby creating increased human and economic costs from expensive emergency care.