The Home Office has abandoned a controversial “hostile environment” scheme using NHS data to track down patients believed to be breaching immigration rules.
In the face of a legal challenge brought by the Migrants’ Rights Network, a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Health, NHS Digital and the Home Office is being scrapped.
The plan, revealed last year, provoked protests from health and civil liberties organisations, which said it was an invasion of patient confidentiality, discriminated against non-British patients and could deter people from seeking medical help for themselves or their children.
In May, the government agreed to suspend most of the data-sharing arrangement and limit its use to tracing those being considered for deportation because they had committed a serious crime.
NHS Digital has now confirmed it will completely withdraw from the data-sharing deal that was made in secret in November 2016.
Negotiations between the Home Office and NHS Digital are now under way to develop a memorandum of understanding that narrows the scope of information sought.
Rita Chadha, the interim director of Migrants’ Rights Network, said: “On the 70th anniversary of the NHS it is absolutely vital that our great British institutions uphold the best British values.
“The right to privacy and access to healthcare is a right that many of us take for granted; sadly this has not been the case of health services for migrants. We are delighted that the government is starting to dismantle the hostile environment by conceding that deterring people from accessing health services is cruel, inhumane and ultimately more costly,” she added.
The organisation was represented by Liberty. Lara ten Caten, a solicitor at the human rights group, said: “This secret data-sharing deal undermined every principle our health service is built on, showing contempt for confidentiality and forcing people to choose between self-medicating and detention and possible deportation.
“This stand-down by the government is a huge victory for everyone who believes we should be able to access healthcare safely – and particularly for doctors and nurses who had become complicit in the government’s hostile environment against their will. This triumph shows that if we stand up to xenophobic policies, we can and will dismantle them.”
The agreement allowed the Home Office to request access to non-clinical information including patients’ last known address. It is understood it had only been used twice since May.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We continue to work with NHS Digital on a new memorandum of understanding to enable us to make requests for non-medical information about those facing deportation action because they have committed serious crimes, or where information necessary to protect someone’s welfare.” No medical information was exchanged.
