{"id":43114,"date":"2018-09-26T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T16:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=43114"},"modified":"2019-09-09T16:48:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T15:48:47","slug":"charging-maternity-care-hostile-environment-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/09\/26\/charging-maternity-care-hostile-environment-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Charging for maternity care: How did the \u201chostile environment\u201d go this far?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\">Vulnerable women are bearing the brunt, say Neal Russell, Sophie Windsor, and Susan Bewley<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.maternityaction.org.uk\/policy\/publications\/what-price-safe-motherhood-charging-for-nhs-maternity-care-in-england-and-its-impact-on-migrant-women\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">report released last week<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.maternityaction.org.uk\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maternity Action<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reveals the distressing experiences of women who are faced with exorbitant NHS charges for accessing maternity care in England. It makes uncomfortable reading for those who\u2019ve been unaware of what is happening in the NHS and should be a clarion call for change. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk\/Handlers\/Download.ashx?IDMF=ae5edfbb-31cf-48c9-b79c-4492b3ee29fa\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many comparable European countries<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> offer free pregnancy care to undocumented migrant women regardless of immigration status, whereas the UK charges a disproportionate 150% of the NHS tariff. Additionally, hospitals share patient details with the Home Office if bills are unpaid, effectively linking healthcare seeking with immigration enforcement\u2014a practice still occurring despite suspension of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2018\/may\/09\/government-to-stop-forcing-nhs-to-share-patients-data-with-home-office\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">routine<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> data sharing, as outlined in the memorandum of understanding between NHS digital and the Home Office<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This report confirms the impact of the government\u2019s stated intention to create a \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2018\/apr\/17\/theresa-mays-hostile-environment-policy-at-heart-of-windrush-scandal\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hostile environment\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for undocumented migrants in the UK. The policy is having a devastating effect on some of the most vulnerable pregnant women, raising serious concerns about the potential of poor health outcomes for women and their newborn babies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NHS charging regulations have been significantly reinforced recently, including the introduction of a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/uksi\/2015\/238\/pdfs\/uksi_20150238_en.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">150% charge for secondary hospital care<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/729872\/Guidance_on_implementing_the_overseas_visitor_charging_regulations_-_May_2018.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">October 2017 regulations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (applying to England so far) introduced a requirement to charge upfront, and withhold treatment from those unable to pay, unless the treatment is \u201curgent\u201d or \u201cimmediately necessary.\u201d In these cases charges are applied retrospectively. Emergency department and GP care are presently exempt. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The charges were opposed by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fsrh.org\/news\/fsrh-asks-secretary-of-state-withdraw-charges-overseas-visitors\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as well as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk\/Handlers\/Download.ashx?IDMF=f6a9d7c2-a526-4d61-ae2d-d4807f9f99f3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">192 other organisations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. They are now applied to people who are unable to prove their immigration status when asked for documents\u2014being therefore defined as \u201coverseas visitors,\u201d despite this including many people who are actually <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2018\/mar\/10\/denied-free-nhs-cancer-care-left-die-home-office-commonwealth\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">living in the UK<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pregnancy care is classed as \u201cimmediately necessary\u201d and should always be provided without waiting for payment. However, the report makes clear that fear of charging\u2014as well as threatening letters, phone calls, and debt collection practices, combined with linking of NHS debts to fear of immigration enforcement practices such as detention and deportation\u2014is having profoundly negative consequences for women. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The undocumented migrant women in the report, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk\/Handlers\/Download.ashx?IDMF=2a7fc733-ceef-4417-9783-d69b016ff74f\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">similar to previous studies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, had generally been living in the UK for several years in poor circumstances. Far from the mistaken popular impression of \u201chealth tourists\u201d that inspired the charging regulations, these women have often fled persecution, sexual and domestic violence, and domestic servitude, but had asylum applications refused, or expired visas. Unable to pay huge fees (in many cases more than \u00a36000) for maternity care, pregnant women, new mothers, and babies are facing deepening destitution. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The report also exposes the gender inequality of the charging system. Several women, on discovery of their pregnancy, were abandoned by their partners, upon whom many women\u2019s immigration status actually depends (e.g. spousal visas), yet it is the woman who must pay. Unable to claim benefits or work legally, and faced with unaffordable charges, women are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abusive relationships, being unable to report sexual or domestic violence due to fear of immigration enforcement. To avoid charges, women have even had to consider adoption or termination of pregnancy\u2014although the latter is now also chargeable at 150% upfront since October 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Studying health outcomes or publicising stories of the experience of undocumented migrants is extremely challenging. Many are afraid to speak due to a real risk of being detected by immigration authorities. Maternity Action managed to gain consent for anonymised stories from 16 women who described poor health, but no larger study of outcomes for those who have been charged has been performed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recent national Confidential Enquiry reports do, however, reveal increasing disparities in maternal mortality in minority ethnic groups, including a greater than four<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npeu.ox.ac.uk\/downloads\/files\/mbrrace-uk\/reports\/MBRRACE-UK%20Maternal%20Report%202017%20-%20Web.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> times higher rate of maternal death in black women<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npeu.ox.ac.uk\/downloads\/files\/mbrrace-uk\/reports\/MBRRACE-UK%20Perinatal%20Surveillance%20Full%20Report%20for%202016%20-%20June%202018.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">concerning increase in the rate of stillbirths and neonatal deaths<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> among their babies. Migrants may be over-represented in these groups, and women from minority ethnic groups may be more likely to be questioned, but charging status was not recorded in these reports. Nevertheless, deterrence from antenatal care and delivery care due to charging could be contributing to these worsening outcomes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The rise in anti-migrant sentiment has made restricting healthcare to undocumented migrants more politically acceptable, but many European neighbours stand in contrast to the UK. In France, attempts to reduce free coverage of undocumented migrants <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lejdd.fr\/politique\/aide-medicale-detat-pour-buzyn-sa-restriction-par-le-senat-nest-pas-responsable-3691034\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">have been opposed by the government<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and even the right wing of the senate did not\u00a0 attempt to remove free maternity care. In Spain, advocacy by health professionals recently helped <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanpub\/article\/PIIS2468-2667(18)30133-6\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">overturn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> restrictions to healthcare for undocumented migrant adults, after <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/ep00.epimg.net\/descargables\/2018\/04\/13\/617bc3f9263d9a0dbcf3704f8d75a095.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">increases in emergency care usage and mortality<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> led the government to conclude that restrictions were neither humane nor cost effective. Again, the law had in any case exempted pregnant women and children from any restrictions. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The government&#8217;s &#8220;hostile environment&#8221; and the exaggerated narrative on health tourism have led us down a very dangerous path. Research could explore whether and to what extent the charging system has been responsible for the worsening health outcomes in mothers and newborns that we already know are occuring from Confidential Enquiries. And an independent enquiry into all charging should also happen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet it is not necessary, and indeed it would be unethical, to wait for any further evidence of harm to know what must be done; the report from Maternity Action already tells us that vulnerable women are bearing the brunt of regulations now. Their stories provide ample evidence for individual doctors and others to write to their MPs. Obstetric, midwifery, and child health leaders must support calls for an immediate suspension of the charging regime. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-43117 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/09\/neal_russell.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"129\" height=\"140\" \/>Neal Russell<\/strong>, paediatric registrar and clinical research fellow, St George\u2019s University. Twitter\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NealJRussell\">@NealJRussell<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I am a member of the M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) and Medact, although have no formal role at either (I previously worked for MSF) and receive no financial or non-financial benefits. All views are my own.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-43118 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/09\/sophie_windsor.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"129\" height=\"140\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/em><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Sophie Windsor<\/strong>, consultant midwife, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SophieDWindsor\">@SophieDWindsor<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong>\u00a0Expert panel member, London Maternal Deaths; expert witness; NICE committee member, Update on Multiple Pregnancy Guideline; MBRRACE reviewer for perinatal deaths in multiple pregnancy. All views are my own.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-43116\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/09\/Susan_B-2014.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"129\" height=\"140\" \/><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Susan Bewley<\/strong>, professor [emeritus] of obstetrics and women\u2019s health, Department of Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Health, King\u2019s College London. Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/susan_bewley\">@susan_bewley<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I am a trustee of Maternity Action and wrote the foreword to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vulnerable women are bearing the brunt, say Neal Russell, Sophie Windsor, and Susan Bewley [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2018\/09\/26\/charging-maternity-care-hostile-environment-far\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Charging for maternity care: How did the \u201chostile environment\u201d go this far? 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