Time to end the political rhetoric on health tourism

Schulkind, Jasmine; Biggart, Rachael; Bowsher, Gemma

doi:10.1136/bmj.h2215

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In the UK debates, much has been made of the 'health tourist', the vulnerability of the National Health Service (NHS), and the drain on the resources as the national health service becomes the 'international health service'(Department of Health 2013). Use of the NHS by migrants have been shown to be less than nationals and while 'health tourism' and inappropriate access to healthcare does occur, this is significantly lower than political rhetoric would have us believe (Prederi 2013, Jolly and Bennett 2015, Schulkind, Biggart, and Bowsher 2015. More recently, discourses around NHS have been utilized in the recent EU referendum debate in the UK (Vote Leave Campaign 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The human right to health: exploring disability, migration and health

Burns

2017

Disability & Society

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Across the globe, an estimated 1 billion people are on the move today, of whom 244 million are international migrants. Not only have global horizons expanded in the realm of work and study; global conflict and exploitation have resulted in forced migration. Migration is a political issue, one that raises questions of identity, citizenship, diversity, integration and is utilized to play upon the fear of the stranger, the 'Other' and difference in contemporary society. Disabled migrants are a hidden population whose experiences are often overlooked or subsumed within wider debates around disability and ethnicity. This paper considers the intersection of disability and migration in contemporary society through the lens of healthcare access. Reflecting on the impact of citizenship rights on the realisation of human rights in the context of contemporary migration, using health as an example, the paper considers the implications for disabled migrants, focusing primarily on the EU.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The human right to health: exploring disability, migration and health

Burns

2017

Disability & Society

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“…The reforms were introduced at a time of heavy anti-immigration media coverage and politically motivated rhetoric over the condition of the NHS budget. 44 The preceding years of austerity led to heightened scrutiny of public service spending. 45 Media coverage 46 47 and policy-makers debate 48 focused on 'health tourism': travel to the UK specifically for NHS services.…”

Section: Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

‘Inglan is a bitch’: hostile NHS charging regulations contravene the ethical principles of the medical profession

Reynolds

Mitchell

2019

J Med Ethics

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Following the recent condemnation of the National Health Service charging regulations by medical colleges and the UK Faculty of Public Health, we demonstrate that through enactment of this policy, the medical profession is betraying its core ethical principles. Through dissection of the policy using Beauchamp and Childress’ framework, a disrespect for autonomy becomes evident in the operationalisation of the charging regulations, just as a disregard for confidentiality was apparent in the data sharing Memorandum of Understanding. Negative consequences of the regulations are documented to highlight their importance for clinical decision makers under the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. Exploration of the principle of justice illuminates the core differentiation between the border-bound duties of the State and borderless duties of the clinician, exposing a fundamental tension.

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Authors of report on cost of visitors and migrants to the NHS reply to letter calling for end to political rhetoric on health tourism

Bennett¹,

Waite²,

Jolly³

2015

BMJ

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senior consultant, Anita Jolly consultant in public health medicine, On behalf of Prederi Prederi, Oxted RH8 9EE, UKAs authors of the Department of Health commissioned report on the cost of visitors and short term migrants to the NHS in England, 1 we offer a counter interpretation to that of Schulkind and colleagues. 2 Far from being "absurd," it was a credible attempt to quantify use of NHS services by overseas visitors in the absence of any statistics directly measuring this. Peer review of our work supported our findings.The report is a top down estimate based on the best publicly available population data at the time of analysis. We derived a daily equivalent UK population of overseas visitors and calculated associated NHS costs on the basis of age and sex adjusted estimates of use. The costs of regular migrant use of NHS services were estimated at £1.4bn (€1.94bn; $2.2bn). Our report was underpinned by empirical evidence, which shows that migrants are generally less likely to use NHS services than people born in the UK.We estimated the cost of irregular migrant NHS use as about £330m. We also distinguished between "normal" use and "health tourism," which we estimated costs the NHS £70m-300m. Although far less than the £2bn misquoted by Nigel Farage, 3 this is a substantial amount. The uncertainty surrounding all estimates was fully acknowledged. Schulkind states that "Evidence of health tourism from the front line is equally lacking." We would like to point out that qualitative research commissioned concurrently by the Department of Health provides evidence that it does happen. 4 We drew no inferences about how much it costs to treat non-UK

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Time to end the political rhetoric on health tourism

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

The human right to health: exploring disability, migration and health

The human right to health: exploring disability, migration and health

‘Inglan is a bitch’: hostile NHS charging regulations contravene the ethical principles of the medical profession

Authors of report on cost of visitors and migrants to the NHS reply to letter calling for end to political rhetoric on health tourism

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