NURSES have warned that Priti Patel’s asylum reforms will further restrict refugees’ access to healthcare and impact their ability to treat vulnerable patients. 

Nurses’ union RCN is urging peers to scrap measures in the Nationality and Borders Bill that it says will impact nursing staff and the provision of care for vulnerable groups.

The Bill, which is currently being scrutinised in the House of Lords, seeks to create a two-tier asylum system allowing individuals to be treated differently depending on their means of arrival to Britain.  Those who enter via irregular routes could be denied leave to remain. 

RCN warns this risks increasing the number of people subjected to the NHS charging regime, which requires asylum-seekers in England to pay for a wide range of medical treatments. 

A briefing by the union to peers last week warned this would impact nursing staff as they are required to identify people liable for NHS charges. 

“Evidence indicates that recent reforms to the NHS charging system in England have negatively affected the roles of healthcare staff and may alter the way that staff can deliver treatment and interact with their patients,” it states. 

Healthcare workers’ unions and campaigners have long called for the removal of migration policies in hospitals, warning it creates barriers to vulnerable people accessing medical help. 

Doctors of the World, which has campaigned on this issue, also warned the new law would make the situation “much worse” for asylum-seekers. 

Policy and advocacy manager Dr Yusuf Ciftci said today: “It would force people to live in a constant state of limbo and cause some people to lose their refugee status altogether.

“Falling under the NHS charging system, they will not be entitled to receive free hospital care and forced to manage their health conditions alone.

“We strongly urge the government to improve the asylum system rather than exacerbate the harm it already causes.”

RCN also raised concerns about proposals to change the way age assessments of asylum-seekers are carried out, such as dental X-rays, which are scientifically disputed. 

The union is calling for peers to support amendments seeking to remove these measures as they debate the Bill. 

Healthcare professionals have previously raised concerns about the impact of the Bill on asylum-seekers’ mental and physical health, particularly measures seeking to detain thousands of people in large-scale reception facilities.