“No UK Passport, No Health Care in England” Says Senior Civil Servant

UK Passport

Controversial plans that would require anyone needing healthcare in England’s hospitals to provide two forms of identification, including a passport, were relayed to Westminster’s public accounts committee yesterday.
 
The Department of Health’s most senior civil servant, Chris Wormald, said the scheme had already been piloted in places with “high immigrant populations” such as in London and Peterborough. A hospital in London cited “maternity tourism” as the reasoning behind the scheme – whereby pregnant mothers without the correct papers could be refused NHS care and referred to the Home Office with the threat of deportation.
 
The civil servant admitted that these plans were controversial and not in keeping with the “culture of the health service up to now… but what we want is a culture of everybody who works in it to understand financial rigour.  We need a culture where we are more careful with the tax pound”.
 
Clare Haughey MSP and Deputy Convener of the Health and Sport Committee said:
 
“To demand that patients show their passport at hospitals in England goes against the founding principles of the NHS – and the civil servant proposing this even admits that these plans are completely out of step with the culture of the health service.
 
“This measure could see UK citizens being turned away from hospitals or indeed not going to A&E because they don’t have any ID. NHS staff should be left to treat patients that come through hospital doors rather than having to act as gatekeepers for a penny-pinching government. 
 
“I am embarrassed at the thought of a pregnant mother being refused treatment in England because she does not have the relevant paperwork and I hope the government will denounce these plans immediately. This is a grim insight into what a post-Brexit UK could look like.”

ABC Comment:  Passports are expensive and not everyone has one or can afford to renew their passport if they are out of work.