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Nhs Identity Cards

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anotheoldgit | 14:12 Mon 04th Mar 2013 | News
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287531/British-citizens-forced-carry-ID-cards-access-free-NHS-care-crackdown-health-tourism.html

In view of the NHS being abused by health tourists, would the introduction of NHS membership ID cards be a good idea?

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“we already carry an EHIC card (Or should) if we are travelling in Europe, when the boot's on the other foot.... “ The difference is, box tops, that when you pitch up to a hospital abroad the first thing they ask for (before they take your pulse) is your EHIC, credit card or medical insurance policy details. In fact some countries will not allow you entry...
18:35 Mon 04th Mar 2013
Question Author
sp1814

/// Perhaps I'm being cynical, but could these leaks have anything to do with the Conservatives trying to appease the right wing of the party, and those voters who have abandoned them (even if temporarily) for UKIP? ///

Perhaps that wouldn't be a bad thing if UKIP got in, then that would put an end to immigrants we don't want, health tourists or not.
sp1814 so do I, and I even know my old 9 digit BT employee number!
That's as maybe...

but perhaps they'd be clueless in every other respect
Question Author
jake-the-peg

Not naughty at all,

Read the headline:

/// British citizens could be forced to carry ID cards to access free NHS care as part of crackdown on health tourism ///

Meaning if one doesn't carry an ID card then one would find it hard to obtain treatment, therefore one will be 'FORCED' to carry the said card to receive treatment.


AOG

But couldn't you argue that FredPuli43 has a point with the way this has been reported by the Daily Mail.

Where has the suggestion that we would be forced to carry these ID cards? Why would we need to carry them, other than when we see our GP, or on admission to hospital?

Also, am I being dense...why does the headline refer to British citizens being forced to carry NHS cards, when the body of the story is about new immigrants having to present cards.

I read the story quite quickly, so I may have missed it...
So.......what ARE you answers to the problem that is almost certainly going to occur due to immigration of Bulgarians and Rumanians?

Look at it from the local GP....in comes our "health tourist2.....can't speak the language, different cultural mannerisms and ideas and complicated psychological issues due to leaving one's own country and immigrating into another.

Consultations will be long, frustrating and hazardous leading to antagonism and ill temper on the part of the patient, doctor and patients waiting in the waiting room.

Another situation that is not obvious, is that the NHS is "fronted" by GPs and referrals to specialists do not come so easy as they do in other countries, where GP's "tend" to be almost automatic referral points.
This may cause concern.

There is little doubt that the endemic population will feel the frustration, suffer and may well have "their" health compromised.

I can see little wrong with the ID card system.
AOG

Hmmm..I think the use of the word 'forced' implies the imposition of draconian measures.

I don't see the link between immigrants having to present NHS cards and British citizens having to.

I've been signed up to my local GP for about 20 years - if I need to be referred to an NHS hospital for treatment, why would I need to prove my identity, if it were already known.
Question Author
Oh dear, oh dear, what has the 'left got to say now,

/// The proposal was put forward by Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, and Nicholas Soames, Tory MP for Mid Sussex, who co-chair a cross-party parliamentary group on balanced immigration. ///

http://rt.com/news/uk-nhs-access-immigrants-774/
Question Author
sp1814

/// Also, am I being dense...why does the headline refer to British citizens being forced to carry NHS cards, when the body of the story is about new immigrants having to present cards. ///

You can still be a British citizen who for some reason is 'forced' (oh dear I have used that dreaded word again) to change your doctor, or you may be in a different part of the country and have need to use the services of another doctor.
There is no credible evidence that large numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians will be coming to Britain. Still less as "health tourists" . Only the ravings of Nigel Farago and an asinine article in the Daily Mail.
And even if they do I'm at a loss to see how forcing good old Brits to carry an NHS card would help (!)
Another light day in the Mail newsroom? (there seem to be so many!)
/Meaning if one doesn't carry an ID card then one would find it hard to obtain treatment, therefore one will be 'FORCED' to carry the said card to receive treatment.//

rather disingenuous aog

'forced to carry' implies a constant or continuous behaviour

what the article really means is 'forced to present/show/brandish a card'

I wonder if the Daily Wail reasoned that 'British citizens could be forced to present an ID card to access free NHS care' would be less exciting for our 'net curtain twitchers'


ichtheria

\\\And even if they do I'm at a loss to see how forcing good old Brits to carry an NHS card would help (!) \\\

What is so special about "good old Brits?"

"Good old Spaniards" do it and find it a help.

We mustn't upset the "good old Brits" must we....and God forbid "forcing " them to do something.
they can be forged just like every other document we have to identify us?
Question Author
em10

/// they can be forged just like every other document we have to identify us? ///

Couldn't they be made with the same security as a £50 note, I am sure they are not forged Willie Nillie, or our financial state would be in a much worse position than it already is.
boxtops, in Spain we also have to get a EHIC health card if we travel to other EU countries, my daughter failed to take it with her last winter (she's British, born in Spain) and when she had an accident, she had to prove that she had a work contract in Britain to get free treatment, so no idea how the rest of the world get away with free treatment!
Question Author
squad

/// What is so special about "good old Brits?" ///

/// "Good old Spaniards" do it and find it a help. ///

I thought that we had already proven how 'special' we are way back in Drake's day.
In truth, one only has to mention a i.d. card to a Brit and they go apoplectic, something to do with human rights and Big Brother watching!!(not the tv prog!)
where you find new technology that comes up with a foolproof note, pin system, or ID card, you will find people who can circumvent them, almost always...
AOG

Still not convinced.

If someone changes doctors, then their existing records would be sent from their old GP to the new one.

And with regards to the whole notion of British citizens being 'forced' to carry cards...the term itself is wrong, because no-one would be forced to carry them.

Motorised are not forced to carry their driving licence, unless they have to present them to prove that they are eligible to drive.

Passport holders are not forced to carry their documents unless they wish to travel.

Everyone is not forced to carry their birth certificate unless (say) they want to get married or enter a civil partnership.

The recently deceased are not forced to carry their death certificates unless...

You get my drift.

The tone of the article, lead by the headline suggests some kind of imposition on all of us because of health tourists. I don't think that's true.
do they? i have never seen that, i am sure those people who hold a passport, a form of ID, driving licence, a form of ID, and sundry other tabs on us that we are used to it, not only that we can be digitally recognised by millions of cctv cameras recording our every move, not only that but dare park your car one inch over a line and undoubtedly you will be slapped with a penalty fine that notes all your details, we don't get away with much, us British.

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