Docs not Cops
Docs not Cops is a political organisation in the United Kingdom, set up to challenge the application of the Home Office hostile environment policy in the National Health Service that began in 2014.[1]
The organisation opposes upfront charges for health care which, they claim, deter sick people in fragile, vulnerable circumstances from seeking medical treatment.[2]
In October 2017 they set up an immigration checkpoint outside the Department of Health as a protest against the extension of charging rules.[3]
In May 2018 the government agreed to amend the data sharing arrangements between the Home Office and the NHS which had been one of the organisations protest targets after concerns raised by the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee.[4] This happened shortly after the Windrush scandal.[5]
Shortly afterwards a pilot scheme in London hospitals which asked 8,894 people for two forms of identity prior to treatment showed that only 50 of them were not entitled to free NHS treatment. Dr Jessica Potter, of the organisation, said: “People who are most likely to be charged are the least able to pay. There is no evidence it saves the NHS an appreciable amount of money.”[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "Another key Johnson claim on the NHS demolished". Open Democracy. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ "NHS protest: how 'hostile' migrant charging policy came into being". Guardian. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ^ "NHS charging rules: Doctors and nurses accuse Government of 'deliberate cruelty' with upfront payments and ID checks". Independent. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ^ "Doctors need not pass patient data to Home Office in most cases". OnMedica. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ^ "The NHS has stopped sharing data with the Home Office – now it must halt passport checks on patients". Independent. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ^ "8,900 checks on NHS 'health tourists' find just 50 liable to pay". Evening Standard. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.