1. NHS restored as Britain’s jewel in the crown
The very future of our NHS, arguably Britain’s greatest institution, is being threatened by a raft of EU
laws and regulations which we have no control over.
Our inability to control the numbers of people arriving here from EU member states to access our free
NHS and GP services is placing an intolerable pressure on doctors and nurses and is an issue absolutely
central to this referendum debate. Top cancer specialist Professor Angus Dalgleish has warned the NHS
is being “bled dry” by the EU’s free movement of people. He said: “Britain is attracting thousands of
health tourists from across the EU who cannot get certain drugs or treatments in their home country so
come to Britain and demand them as EU citizens. Cancer treatment can cost £200,000-a-year per patient
and while we remain in the EU, Britain has to offer treatment for any EU citizen who comes here so as to
not discriminate.” The evidence supports his claims. Data from the UK Statistics Authority show the
rising numbers of foreign nationals has led to doctors taking on an extra 1.5 million people in the last
three years alone. Indeed, 475,000 babies were born to mothers from other EU nations between 2005
and 2014, the same population increase as a city the size of Liverpool. The cost of this maternity care is
£1.3bn.
It is no coincidence that NHS performance
in key areas of care has been declining for
several years. For example, the number of
patients waiting at least four hours on a
trolley to be admitted hit a record 51,545
this January – an almost four-fold increase
on the 13,162 who did so in the same
month in 2011. The figures for January
2016 represent the worst ever
performance in the first month of the year,
as the NHS missed almost all its key
waiting time targets. Those on the
‘Remain’ side are claiming: “The NHS
would collapse without the EU’s free movement of people due to how many talented nurses and
doctors are able to come and work here.” However, this is untrue and very misleading. Statistics
produced by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that just 3.6% of permanent, full-time
staff within the NHS originate from EU member countries. 78.5% are British nationals and 4% come from
the Commonwealth. After Britain, India produces the highest number of professionally qualified clinical
staff, doctors and consultants followed by the Philippines and then Ireland.
Stats also reveal the NHS is paying out millions more for EU healthcare than it is claiming back from EU
member states. The UK pays more than £670m to EU countries for Brits’ healthcare abroad,
while claiming back less than £50m from the EU, despite there being significantly more EU citizens in the
UK than UK citizens in the EU. For example, the UK pays France £147m, but France only pays the UK £7m
in return and in Poland, where net migration is massively towards the UK, the discrepancy is four-fold in
Poland’s favour.
Not only that but new measures passed in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 have increased
competition within the NHS at the expense of collaboration – making it inevitable that UK and EU
competition law will apply as if it were a utility like gas or telecoms. Opening up the NHS to competition
27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon