British doctors are undermining our nhs | thearticle

If someone virulently disliked Britain’s National Health Service and wanted to see public support for it collapse in a spectacular fashion, what would be the most effective way of making

that happen? The reason I’m wondering is that it seems that someone of that disposition hasn’t infiltrated the ranks of the British Medical Association. At the annual conference of the

doctor’s union on Tuesday, 500 delegates voted overwhelmingly to scrap charges for migrants seeking care from the National Health Service, becoming the first body to advocate for British

taxpayers providing indiscriminate care regardless of nationality — or whether the patient meets the minimum 6-month residency requirement. According to reports in the Daily Mail, doctors

speaking against the motion were booed. Perhaps the fastest way to undermine the NHS that Brits say makes them most proud to be British is not through devastating cuts, nor is it constantly

reorganising the service in ways that are disruptive and ideologically-driven. No, perhaps the single best way of sabotaging the service British people love is telling them they are just as

entitled to its services as someone from halfway across the world who has never paid a penny for it. But the majority of doctors at the BMA conference obviously disagree. Refusing to charge

overseas visitors, while expecting residents to contribute through their taxes, cuts right to the heart of the social bargain that consent for such a gargantuan project as the National

Health Service is built on. Your contribution varies according to your income, but if you’re living and working in the UK, it is your money that pays for the doctor who freezes your verruca,

the surgeon who preys your arteries open and the midwife who walks you those first hours of parenthood. It is only right that the National Health Service seeks payment from everyone else.

In the grand scheme of things, of course, what the government calls ‘deliberate health tourism’ barely registers on the NHS budget, coming in at only 0.3% of the annual spend. But discarding

the entire process of charging those who are not eligible would effectively make British taxpayer-funded healthcare open to anyone who could get here. Creating incentives for many to

arrive, turn up at Accident and Emergency, receive expensive treatment in first-class hospitals and pay nothing for the privilege. Many of my fellow lefties will, unfortunately, see this

motion as a step in the right direction. Discrimination based on nationality is a 20th-century idea, they say, that should be tossed aside and replaced with the indiscriminate love and care

of the 21st. Whilst these utopian instincts are no doubt well-intentioned, they fail to see the world as it is. The 6-month wait to become classified as “ordinarily resident” is not a

particularly high barrier to meet, characterising it as malevolent or unfair is not an analysis that chimes with reality. Of course, utopian instincts shouldn’t be scoffed at automatically.

What is the NHS, a body that promised free healthcare to all British people regardless of wealth and income, if not utopian? The problem is, as always, money and its finite nature. Writing

blank cheques to fund the operations and doctors appointments of non-UK residents fails a simple maths test, and a system that advertises such indiscriminate kindness is unlikely to keep its

costs contained for long. The BMA conference was apparently not short on ridiculousness either. Spurious allegations that charging patients from overseas for accessing NHS services was “a

fundamentally racist endeavour” from one doctor is yet another example of the r-word’s never-ending definition creep. His assertion that doctors were “complicit in the oppressive regime”

does the same disservice to the o-word, too. Predictably, remarks like those will only add to the perception that many doctors are out of touch with the public they treat. The complaint by

Dr Jackie Applebee, the proposer of the motion, that charging migrants for care “makes it easier to extend charging to the rest of us” is an egregious use of the slippery-slope argument, and

fails to take into account that the public — and through them their lawmakers — generally make a clear distinction between those who are entitled to treatment, and are part of the tax base,

and those with no substantial links to the UK who are not. There are, however, fair grievances from the BMA. Dr Applebee also expressed legitimate concern about racial profiling. There is

always a risk that the assessments will unfairly single out those who might appear least likely to qualify: those with non-British accents or darker skin. The simplest solution would be to

require everyone to prove their eligibility at the earliest opportunity, without putting at risk patient safety or turning doctors into administrators. Urgent treatment is never refused to

new arrivals, and that should remain the case. Universal healthcare is a blessing, but free access to first-rate medicine is not a gift from the Gods, nor an immutable right, but a privilege

that must be paid for. Doctors of the UK would be wise to remember this, as their patients surely do.