Campaigners tackle Barts Trust on charging migrants

DISTURBING PRACTICES are going on within the NHS facilities run by Barts Health Trust, according to local campaigners in the Tower Hamlets branch of Keep Our NHS Public (KONP).

Campaigners report that hospitals in the Barts Health Trust are asking patients to prove their ID before they are treated. Those who cannot prove their identity – and therefore their right to free treatment – are being charged for using NHS services.

The campaigners have seen a “pre-attendance form” produced by the Trust, which requires prospective patients to give their passport number and their employer’s name and address and phone number – as well as requiring those filling in the form to give the Trust permission to share their personal data with “other agencies”. Campaigners believe that the Trust is making up to 100 inquiries a week of the Home Office, asking about the immigration status of individual patients.

Campaigners will be handing an Open Letter in to the Barts Trust Board meeting at Mile End Hospital (see below).

Obtaining treatment by the maternity and renal services at Newham University Hospital and the Royal London Hospital  is especially difficult, campaigners report – with prospective patients being asked to produce two forms of ID before they can begin treatment.Research has shown that 25% of pregnant women in Newham do not have acceptable forms of ID.

Campaigners are concerned that the checks and charges may discourage people from seeking treatment. Not only could this lead to a massive rise in those seeking emergency treatment (when their conditions deteriorate), it could also have a detrimental effect on public health.

There are also concerns that NHS bureaucrats will target black and Asian people for these special ID checks. Not only would this be just plain racist, it would also be a huge waste of time in an area where black and Asian people are in the majority of the population.

The NHS would have to pay status checkers to go round policing a mainly compliant population in the hope of finding a bad apple. This is hardly going to solve the cash problems of the health service. The Government previously proclaimed that it was trying to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants – but they did not reveal that it was the legal population that would have to pay for creating it.

The campaigners have prepared an open letter which they are asking local people to sign before 11th September. The letter will then be presented to the Barts Health Trust Board at its AGM on 12th September. The AGM is being held at Mile End Hospital and Tower Hamlets KONP is asking supporters to assemble on Bancroft Road to see the letter delivered to the Board.

Facilities run by the Barts Health Trust are located over much of East London, and anyone who lives, works or studies in East London – or who visits the area or is even passing through – could find themselves trying to use one of these NHS facilities.

•We have asked that Barts NHS Trust for comment.

•The next meeting of Tower Hamlets KONP will be from 6pm to 6.45pm on Wednesday, 5th September at the Whitechapel Idea Store café.

•Sign the Open Letter to Barts Health before 11th September:
Open Letter to Barts Health

•Join TH KONP handing in the Open Letter to Barts Health. Gather at 5.15 pm on Wednesday, 12th September outside the main entrance to Mile End Hospital on Bancroft Road.

•For more information about TH KONP, email:
THKeepOurNHSPublic@gmailcom

•Read more about it:
Barts Health tackles waiting lists
Campaigners explain opposition to GP at Hand