Your story ‘Three-quarters of GPs support upfront charges for foreign visitors accessing care’ implies that most GPs agree with charging visitors. But the view that ‘foreigners’ are responsible for the crisis in the NHS is erroneous, when the truth is that the crisis in the health service has nothing to do with foreign visitors and everything to do with the unrelenting cuts and push to privatisation undertaken by this and previous governments.
GPs are against acting as agents of border control, as demonstrated at last year’s LMCs Conference, which voted that GPs should not become embroiled in immigration issues. GPs and practice staff are overwhelmed already and do not have the capacity to take on this extra work even if paid to do so.
NHS costs for treating visitors is relatively small and likely to be expensive and difficult to recover.
Restricting health care has public health implications if people with infectious diseases, for example, or potentially serious conditions, do not present early for treatment. There are risks of cross infection and costs escalating if a patient worsens and needs more intensive treatment.
Migrants are a net benefit to the health service; many of them work in it often on very low wages and keep a hard pressed service going.
It is time to stop looking for convenient scapegoats and lay the blame for the fragmentation and underfunding of the NHS at the door of those really responsible: the coalition, the prime minister, Jeremy Hunt and Andrew Lansley before him.
From:
Dr Jackie Applebee, GP, Unite representative on the GPC and chair Tower Hamlets LMC
Dr Ron Singer, retired, GP, and chair of the doctors’ section of Unite the Union
Dr Deborah Colvin, GP, Hackney and Unite representative on the, GPC
Dr Fay Wilson, GP, Birmingham and member of the GPC
Dr Kambiz Boomla, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Pam Martin, GP, Peckham
Dr Ben Hart, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Nicola Hagdrup, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Coral Jones, GP, Hackney
Dr Tim Dowson, GP, Newcastle
Dr Helen Murrell, GP, Newcastle
Dr Helen Groom, GP, Gateshead
Dr Anna Livingstone, GP, Tower Hamlets
Prof Aneez Esmail, GP, Manchester
Dr Mary Edmonson, retired GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Louise Irvine, GP, Lewisham
Dr David Wrigley, GP, Cumbria
Dr Jack Czauderna, retired GP, Sheffield
Dr Jonathan Fluxman, GP, Harrow
Dr Patrick French, consultant in HIV North Medicine, London
Dr Oppi Pillai, GP, Edmonton
Dr Wendy Ross, GP, Newcastle
Dr Pam Wortley, retired GP, Sunderland
Prof Martin McKee CBE, consultant in public health, London
Prof Allyson Pollock, consultant in public health, East London
Prof Raj Bhopa, Public Health Edinburgh Migration, Ethnicity and Health Research Group
Prof Michel Coleman, Professor of Epidemiology, London
Dr Kailash Chand OBE, GP, Stalybridge
Dr Chandra Kanneganti, GP, Stoke-on-Trent and chair British International Doctors Association
Dr Grant Ingrams, GP, Coventry member GPC, chair Coventry and Warwickshire BMA
Dr Beth McCarron-Nash, GP, Truro, executive lead BMA, GPs’ committee
Dr Eric Watts, consultant Haematologist Brentwood and chair of Doctors for the NHS
Dr Alex Scott-Samuel, clinical senior lecturer in public health, Liverpool
Dr Mary McCarthy, GP, Shrewsbury and member, GPC
Dr Richard Vautrey, GP, Leeds
Dr Clive Peedell, consultant oncologist, South Tees
Dr Helena McKeown, GP, Salisbury member BMA Council, GPC, RCGP Council
Dr Julia Nelki, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, Cheshire
Dr Huw Williams, GP registrar, Cardiff
Dr Helen Salisbury, GP, Oxford
Dr Michael Gopfert, psychiatrist, Liverpool
Dr Brendan O’Reilly, retired GP, Glamorgan
Dr Stephanie Franz, GP, Bristol
Dr Gill Turner, paediatrician, Hexham
Dr Jim Cole, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr. Richard Newell, GP, Bingley
Dr V Goodge, GP, Hereford
Dr Nigel Speight, paediatrician, Durham
Dr Peter Fisher, retired consultant physician, Shrewsbury
Dr Joe Manners, GP, Oxford
Dr John Puntis, paediatrician, Leeds
Dr Gene Feder, GP, Bristol
Dr Tessa Katz, GP, Hackney
Dr Jude Danby, GP, Bradford
Dr Annie Stork, GP, Edmonton
Dr Penny Schofield, retired GP, Newcastle
Dr Sheila Cheeroth, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Paul Revell, consultant haematologist, Stafford
Dr Elisabeth Paul, GP, Lewisham
Dr Alison Johnston, GP, Ulverston
Dr Carol Norris MBE, retired consultant physician, Galashiels
Dr Dianne LeFevre, retired consultant psychiatrist, Hackney
Dr Spyridon Symniakou, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Peter Draper, retired public health consultant, London
Dr Paul Hobday, retired GP, Maidstone
Dr John Robson, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Ceri Dornan, retired GP, Didsbury
Dr Adam Skinner, GP, Kent
Dr David Knight, GP, Northholt
Dr Andrew Green, GP, East Yorkshire, member, GPC
Dr Gill Beck, GP, Aylesbury member, GPC
Dr Sarah Divall, GP, Woolwich
Dr Fiona Sanders, GP, Haringey
Dr George Farrelly, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Alison Smailes, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Robbie Foy, GP, Leeds
Dr Lis Davidson, GP, Liverpool
Dr Miriam Frank, retired consultant in anaesthesia
Dr Fiona Ford MBE, GP, Accrington
Dr Gavin Young, retired GP, Cumbria
Dr Sam Wessely, GP, New Cross
Dr Richard de Souza, GP, Portslade
Dr David Knight, GP, Northolt
Dr Karen Bevan-Mogg, GP, Lewisham
Dr Adrian Hamlyn, consultant physician, Stourbridge
Dr Martha Leigh, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Phil Jones, consultant intensivist, East London
Dr Alan Lee, retired consultant psychiatrist, Nottingham
Dr Ben Robinson Psychiatrist South London
Dr Shabbir Ahmed, GP, manchester
Dr Sally Higginbottom, GP, Camden
Dr Rob Barr retired, GP, Cumbria
Dr David Watt retired, GP, Newham
Dr Maggie Eisner, GP, Bradford
Dr Marek Koperski, GP, Kentish Town
Dr Stephanie Franz, GP, Bristol
Dr Patrick Zentler-Munro, retired physician, Oxford
Dr Mark Aitken, consultant physician, Colchester
Dr Gary Drybala, retired consultant psychiatrist, Rutland
Dr Mark Waters, GP, Hereford
Dr Mary G Harrington, consultant, Geriatrician
Dr Caroline Palme, retired GP, Lancashire
Dr Frances Diffley, GP, Southwark
Dr Julia Hodges, GP, Southwark
Dr Joanna Newell, GP, Leeds
Dr Phillip Bennett-Richards, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Tim Fenn, GP, Edmonton
Dr Laurence Blumberg, GP, Hackney
Dr Ruth Silverman, GP, Hackney
Dr Sara Wraigh, GP, Cumbria
Dr Ingrid Franklin, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Paul Hobday retired, GP, Kent
Dr Nadja van Ginneken, GP, Liverpool
Dr Shamira Bhikha, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Nicholas Hopkinson, consultant chest physician, London
Dr Richard Ma, GP, Islington
Dr John Caldwell, GP, Liverpool
Dr Anne Urquhart, GP, Kent
Dr Christopher Odedun, emergency medicine, north east London
Dr Gail Young, retired GP, Newcastle
Dr Tom Yates, epidemiologist, London
Dr Surinder Singh, GP, South London
Dr Robert MacGibbon retired GO Suffolk
Dr Bryony Kendall, GP, Liverpool
Dr Jienchi Dorward, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Rhiannon Allen, core medicine, London
Ms Shohreh Beski, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, east London
Dr Ann Sandison, consultant histopathologist, west London
Dr Joyce Leeson,c onsultant in public health, Manchester
Dr Joan Platford, GP, Bristol
Dr Nick Mann, GP, Hackney
Dr Saibal De, GP, north east London
Dr C J.Burns Cox, Gloucester
Dr Stephen Olczak, consultant endocrinologist, Linconshire
Dr David Lewis, GP, Liverpool
Dr Jonathan Folb, consultant microbiologist, Liverpool
Dr Iain Cameron, consultant psychiatrist, Sunderland
Dr Miriam Beeks, GP, Hackney
Dr Rebecca Redwood, GP, Hackney
Dr Louise Vaughan, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Hisham Al-Qassab consultant physician/geriatrician, Goodmayes
Dr Ian A A Tod, GP
Dr Saadi Hasan, GP, Hereford
Dr Chris Johnstone, GP, Paisley
Dr Sally Mitchison, retired consultant psychiatrist, Newcastle
Dr Jonathan Coates, GP, Newcastle
Dr Mike Fitchet, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Adam Sandel, GP, Cumbria
Dr Nicola Weave, GP, Newcastle
Dr Sarah Maxwell, consultant microbiologist, Stockport
Prof John Feehall, Nephrologist, Leicester
Dr Ruth Taylor, GP, Hackney
Dr Peter M B English, consultant in public health, Epsom
Dr Sabina Hussain SR public health, London
Dr Helen Zealley, retired consultant, in public health Scotland
Dr Dow Smith, GP, Newcastle
Dr Douglas Green, GP, Hackney
Dr Dianne Le Fevr, retired consultant psychiatrist, North London
Dr Anne Solomon, GP, Hackney
DR Susan O’Halloran, retired consultant paediatrician, Ormskirk
Dr Rob Chapman retired, GP, Cheshire
Dr Lennie Read, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Lucy Potte, GP, Bristol
Dr Pat Munday, retired consultant genitourinary physician
Dr Victoria Hol, GP, North London
Dr Terri Eynon, GP, Leicestershire
Dr Malila Noone, retired consultant Microbiologist, London
Dr Isabel Hodkinson, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Richard Gunstone, retired consultant physician, Coventry
Dr Neeru Garg, GP, Manchester
Mike Beadsworth, infectious diseases consultant, Liverpool
Dr Naomi Beer, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Jonathan Broad, junior doctor, Torbay
Dr Charlotte. Hattersley, GP, Yorkshire
Sangeeta Rana-Masson, GP, Tower Hamlets
Dr Lucy Ward, GP, Enfield
Dr Iain Maclennan Retired, GP, and public health, Isle of Wright
Dr Philip Posne, GP, Kentish Town
Dr Nick Price, GP, Bradford
Dr Donatella Soldi, community paediatrician
Dr Sarah Williams, GP, Hackney
Dr Martin Schweiger, consultant in communicable disease Leeds
Dr Penelope Jarret, GP, Lewisham
Dr Louise Duncan, GP, Newcastle
Dr Paul Julian, GP, Hackney
Dr Jillian Creasy, GP, Sheffield
Dr Krishan Bhanot, GP, Kent
Dr Mary Logan, GP, North East London
