The Guardian view on denying cancer care: unjust and uncaring | Editorial

There is outrage over the refusal of radiotherapy to a patient who has lived here more than four decades. His case points to wider problems

Refusing Albert Thompson NHS treatment for prostate cancer unless he hands over £54,000 he does not have offends both justice and basic humanity. Since last autumn, staff have been ordered to check proof of residency before supplying “non-urgent” healthcare, and charge upfront if it is not forthcoming. This came despite warnings from groups such as Docs Not Cops that health workers struggle to understand who is eligible, leading to discrimination, and that the rules deter ill people from seeking life-saving treatment and make it more likely that infectious diseases could spread.

Worrying as the policy is, it should not have affected Mr Thompson, whose case was revealed by the Guardian last week and raised at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday. Cancer specialists are among those who find it extremely odd that a patient can be booked for radiotherapy yet told on arrival that the treatment is not urgent. Moreover, the 63-year-old moved to the UK as a teenager, has lived here for 44 years and has paid taxes for almost all of those. But he is one of a significant number of long-term UK residents from the Commonwealth to suffer in the “hostile environment” for migrants introduced by Theresa May as home secretary. Many arrived as children, had settled into a peaceful retirement after decades of living and working here, and have been shocked to be told they are not, as they believed, British. Some have found themselves on the brink of deportation.

Continue reading... March 14, 2018 at 11:40PM