The NHS has stopped sharing data with the Home Office – now it must halt passport checks on patients

While it is framed as a necessary cost saving measure, the reality is that it is a policy designed to use fear as a tool to stop people accessing care and to identify those who could face deportation

The government made yet another U-turn on Wednesday, backing down on one of its hugely unpopular hostile environment policies. Responding to mounting pressure following the Windrush scandal the government was forced to take action on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that required the NHS to share patient data with the Home Office for immigration enforcement. This is a huge win for campaigners who have tirelessly highlighted the cruelty of these checks – but it is not enough. If the government is truly committed to making the NHS a safe and caring place, it must end its devastating ID checks and charging policy.

It’s no coincidence that this victory comes at the tail end of the Windrush scandal, as it becomes increasingly difficult for the government to continue to ignore the cruel and devastating reality of their hostile environment. Yet it is also the result of months of tireless work on the #StopSharing campaign from groups like Doctors of the World, Migrants Rights Network, and the National Aids Trust, as well as outrage from the healthcare community, and uncharacteristically strong recommendations from the government’s own Health and Social Care Committee. It’s an important step forward in kicking the hostile environment out of the NHS, and making it a service that prioritises public health over border control.

However, patients still face discrimination and delays in treatment as a result of government demanding NHS trusts check immigration status and charge up front for secondary care. This policy is unworkable. It is forcing trusts to racially profile patients; turning healthcare workers into border guards, and is unlikely to recoup any money. While it is framed as a necessary cost saving measure, the reality is that it is a policy designed to use fear as a tool to stop people accessing care and to identify those who could face deportation.

It is the most marginalised people in society that bear the physical, mental, and financial burden of this policy – and by the government’s own admission, they are the least likely to be able to pay. Every day in A&E I see the fall out. I see people struggling to access dialysis until their condition is life threatening. I see people with chronic mental health problems refused access to their GP because they have no address. I see treatment rooms with posters on the wall threatening patients with bills. It is years of deliberate underfunding and enforced privatisation that is causing the NHS crisis, not migration. Even the government’s own estimate is that “health tourism” accounts for only 0.3 per cent of the NHS budget.

Docs Not Cops and others such as Medact and Migrants Organise continue to campaign for the policy to be scrapped. The #PatientsNotPassports campaign calls on NHS trusts to stand up for their patients and tell the government that they cannot, and will not, implement this policy. Resistance to the policy is growing as healthcare workers raise their voice in protest, along with opposition from the ex-chief of NHS England. Now Labour are getting involved: on Thursday, shadow health secretary John Ashworth also spoke out against the policy for the first time.

The hostile environment continues to pervade the rest of society through immigration checks on current account holders and on renters. While Wednesday’s parliamentary debate voted to remove the MoU, they failed to vote to remove the “immigration exemption” from the Data Protection Act. This strips data protection rights from anyone the Home Office is interested in for immigration purposes and allows sharing of personal information with government departments and private contractors. Time and time again we see that it is racial profiling and discrimination that drives these processes and it is marginalised groups that bear the brunt of this exploitation of private data.

We absolutely must celebrate our victories. When Schools Against Borders for Children help to end the sharing of children’s immigration data, when the Home Office apologises for its treatment of the Windrush generation, and when the NHS is no longer forced to share patient data, we must celebrate.

But we must also hold onto our anger and use it to force this government to scrap every aspect of the hostile environment. For every person pulled off of a mass deportation flight at the last minute, for every person that manages to access the NHS treatment they need; there are many more that face unfair removal, cannot access their GP, and who sit indefinitely in detention centres.

I am a nurse, not a border guard. It is vital and right that patients feel safe, supported and unjudged when they access healthcare. Simply put, the hostile environment is not compatible with my work and is not compatible with the principles of the NHS.

Evan Luckes is a nurse and a campaigner with Docs Not Cops