Thread by @DOTW_UK

How many more people will have to suffer and die because of this unethical, immoral, senseless laws? Our patient, an elderly woman suffering from 2 forms of cancer had vital #NHS treatment delayed for months because she couldn’t pay £150,000 upfront 1/14 theguardian.com/society/2019/d…

She came to the UK to be with her family, who are British citizens. Once she arrived, she was diagnosed with two cancers. Her care was delayed for months and now doctors say her care can only be life extending, not lifesaving. 2/14

Her care should never have been withheld. Safeguards are meant to protect patients in need of urgent and immediate care from having their treatment delayed. But once more, #NHS charging laws smothered all safeguards and caused serious harm to a patient. 3/14

The @DHSCgovuk must scrap the deadly #NHS charging rules. They cause patients serious harm, they are unethical, immoral, and do not work. #PatientsNotPassports 4/14

.@AnnaK_Miller policy&advocacy manager said “This is a tragic example of how the charging rules are causing serious harm to patients in desperate need of care, & it is not an isolated case. In the last 6 months our caseworkers supported 18 people who had treatment withheld” 5/14

“Every child, woman and man in the UK should get the medical care they need, or lives are at risk. That is one of the main principles of the NHS, it’s what makes our health system one of the best in the world, and we should be proud of that” @AnnaK_Miller told @ObserverUK 6/14

.@DrJohnChisholm @BMA “A doctor is first and foremost a caregiver, not a border guard, and none of us should ever be expected to determine whether someone is eligible for urgent care based on their background or status. We are there to treat people on the basis of medical need”

The #HostileEnvironment has infiltrated healthcare and caused harm to many patients. Many hospitals are struggling to apply these laws. We’ve seen many of these cases, and so has the @DHSCgovuk 8/14

Nasar was denied a life-saving transplant because he couldn’t afford to pay for it up-front and was then ordered to pay £32,000 for end of life care @batesej 9/14 metro.co.uk/2019/01/19/my-…

Saloum was denied palliative care and was left in the streets without any care. He was let down by the system at every stage. #PatientsNotPassports 10/14
theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/a…

Just recently, Kelemua was refused chemotherapy and died at 39 from a potentially curable cancer. @lu_hiam 11/14
independent.co.uk/voices/kelemua…

This is the human cost and suffering behind the #NHS charging regulations. @BMA @RCPLondon @RCObsGyn and many others have condemned these deadly laws and asked @DHSCgovuk to suspend them. 12/14

The @BMA has reported that many doctors faced pressures from administrative staff when making clinical judgements about patients’ need for care. 13/14 bma.org.uk/news/media-cen…

How many more people will have to suffer and die because of this unethical, immoral, and senseless laws? Join us in calling for the scrap of the charging regulations, stand in solidarity w patients & doctors opposing them: sign up to our newsletter 14/14 doctorsoftheworld.org.uk