Health charge plans threaten women's health

The UK government plans to extend charges to primary and emergency care - and maternity care.

In March the government plans to publish details of how it intends to extend charges for healthcare services to emergency and primary care.

GP consultations will still be free, but services like minor surgery or physiotherapy might be charged for.

And while ministers have assured would-be patients that they will not have to pay for emergency treatment at the time, from 2015, they are likely to be faced with a bill afterwards.

Patients from overseas are also expected to have to pay higher fees for NHS-subsidised services like eye care, dentistry or medicines.

These changes will affect some classes of migrants, such as those coming from outside Europe without indefinite leave to remain, short-term visitors from outside Europe, visa overstayers and failed asylum seekers, who will have to pay for NHS services.

The government plans to eventually introduce a Visa Health Surcharge for these groups - once paid, NHS services would be available to them on the same basis as the will be to residents.

These changes come on top of charges for NHS services introduced in 2011 for non-European migrants not 'settled' in the UK.

But it is not clear whether those with private health insurance would be exempted.

Maternity Action, which campaigns for the rights of pregnant women and new mothers, is concerned about the lack of clarity surrounding private health insurance, and worries that maternity care is often not covered in these policies – leaving pregnant women and new mothers exposed.

Last month Maternity Action published research which suggested that thousands of migrant women were leaving antenatal services and giving birth at home, or turning up in hospitals in labour and with severe complications.

Pregnant asylum seekers already have worryingly high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality.

Maternity Action’s director Ros Bragg told the Guardian recently: “"We are in contact with a lot of midwives who tell us women are disappearing from antenatal care because they cannot pay for it.

“This is unacceptable. We are very concerned about the charging arrangements currently in place."

Susan Bewley, professor of complex obstetrics at King's College London, told the Guardian that  the policy of charging migrant women for NHS antenatal care put pregnant women in danger.

"They may be put off accessing antenatal care that's good for them and their baby. If health professionals misinterpret their duties towards this group of women they might not come for scans, other checks or to deliver their babies," she said.

"We know that when women fail to access early antenatal care or any care at all, it can lead to poor outcomes for the mother and the baby," she continued.

"We live in a civilised society. It is dangerous not to look after pregnant women properly and not doing so reflects very badly on us all."

Story published in Women's Views on News, February 6, 2014