Midwives beg officials to scrap NHS charges for foreign pregnant women

Midwives urge the Government to scrap ‘harmful’ NHS charges for foreign pregnant women

• The Royal College of Midwives says its members are having to ‘racial profile’
• It believes vulnerable pregnant women are delaying important scans or tests
• Some patients are worried they wont be able to afford the fees, the RCM says 

Midwives are urging the Government to scrap NHS charges for foreign pregnant women on the grounds that they are potentially harmful to mothers and babies.

The Royal College of Midwives says its members are being forced to carry out ‘racial profiling’ when establishing who is eligible for free care.

The organisation – which represents 47,000 midwives – is expected to formally adopt a policy calling for the suspension of charges at their conference later today.

They will join the British Medical Association, the doctors’ trade union, which has been lobbying the Government to drop the fees after condemning them as ‘racist’.

The Royal College of Midwives says its members are being forced to carry out ‘racial profiling’ when establishing who is eligible for free care

The RCM believes that vulnerable pregnant women, some of whom may be illegal immigrants, are delaying important scans or tests, and avoiding all check-ups after the birth.

Some patients are worried they wont be able to afford the fees while others fear being detained by immigration officials and deported, the College claims.

A report by the College on the views of midwives states: ‘Several midwives were concerned about racial profiling and discrimination in assessing women’s eligibility for care.’

One midwife said she felt as though she was ‘working for the Home Office’ while another said her job was ‘becoming about charges.’

Gill Walton chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives said: ‘The RCM is committed to supporting our members to deliver safe high quality care and cost recovery is a barrier to this. We believe that maternity care should be exempt from NHS charging altogether to protect and promote maternal and new-born health.

‘This is why the RCM is calling for the charging regime to be suspended until the government can prove this policy is not doing any harm and jeopardising our shared ambition to make England the safest place in the world to have a baby.

‘Women affected by these charges are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Research has shown us that charging for maternity care reduces the likelihood of vulnerable migrant women receiving care.

‘These women are at greater risk of poor maternal health outcomes, including maternal deaths, and premature birth.’

DOES THE NHS HAVE TO CHARGE FOREIGN PREGNANT WOMEN? 

NHS staff have been legally obliged to charge overseas patients before commencing treatment since October 2017.

By law only patients classed as ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK – living here for at least six months and paying taxes – are entitled to free NHS care in hospitals.

Everyone else should be charged and NHS staff are meant to ask new patients for passports or utility bills to check whether they are ordinarily resident. 

NHS staff have been legally obliged to charge overseas patients before commencing treatment since October 2017.

But figures obtained by the Mail last month found that hospitals were collectively owed £150million from foreign patients who had not yet paid their bills.

Two London teaching hospitals, Barts Health and Kings College Hospital, disclosed that they were chasing £28million each in unpaid invoices.

Yesterday the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that he was giving an extra £1million to a central team tasked with recovering these costs.

The team was set up last year to help the worst-affected hospitals and ensure they properly identify overseas patients.

Mr Hancock said: ‘Our beloved NHS is renowned around the world for providing high quality health care and it is able to do so thanks to the valuable contributions made by hardworking taxpayers – so it is only fair we ask overseas visitors to pay their way as well.

‘This new drive will help recoup millions in unclaimed funds for our NHS which can go back into frontline patient care, so the NHS can be there for all of us when we need it most.’

By law only patients classed as ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK – living here for at least six months and paying taxes – are entitled to free NHS care in hospitals.

Everyone else should be charged and NHS staff are meant to ask new patients for passports or utility bills to check whether they are ordinarily resident. 

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