NHS Faces Collapse Under Proposed Labor Immigration Changes, Warn Healthcare Workers
London, UK – Proposed changes to British citizenship rules by the Labour party are sparking alarm within the National Health Service, with healthcare professionals warning the NHS could be driven to collapse if implemented.The planned extension of the citizenship application process from five to ten years is drawing condemnation as “harmful, divisive and xenophobic,” and raising fears of a mass exodus of foreign-born staff vital to the service.
The proposals, currently under consultation, woudl significantly lengthen the path to settlement for immigrants, impacting a substantial portion of the NHS workforce. While government sources initially indicated the new measures wouldn’t apply to migrants already in the UK, reports suggest Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is exploring options to retroactively apply the ten-year rule, preventing those currently eligible for citizenship after five years from gaining it.
Healthcare workers are voicing deep concerns about the impact on morale and staffing levels. Cate Bailey, an NHS consultant psychiatrist, stated, ”The hundreds of signatures on this letter shows that health workers will not stand for these harmful, divisive and xenophobic policies.”
An NHS psychologist, who has lived in the UK for nearly a decade, expressed feeling unwelcome, saying it was “quite upsetting to be told by the government: you can’t be here”. A London-based NHS midwife, originally from Nigeria and a childhood immigrant to the UK, described battling a “complex and expensive immigration system” and predicted many would “simply give up.” She warned, “I think it’s absolutely ludicrous. I’m not sure how the NHS would survive… The message it says is you’re not welcome here and all the hard work you put in isn’t welcome here.”
The potential impact extends beyond individual hardship. Research from the IPPR thinktank estimates that 1.5 million children in families with migrant parents live in poverty, representing over a third of the total child poverty rate despite comprising a small fraction of the overall population.A briefing to ministers, seen by The Guardian, estimated between 152,000 and 254,000 children in these families were in poverty in 2023, with other research suggesting the figure could be closer to 400,000.
Charities have long advocated for streamlining the citizenship process,citing the financial hardship faced by in-work migrant families excluded from key welfare benefits like universal credit and child benefit. The proposals do not require a parliamentary vote to be enacted.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
