Health Tourism - woman has 5 babies on the NHS

[BlimmingCheek]

AIBU to think that this woman is taking the bloody piss?

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3673011/Nigerian-mum-Bimbo-Ayelabola-flew-into-Britain-and-had-quins-on-the-NHS.html

I very much doubt she will be sent back. Who is paying her legal fees is what I would like to know?

Are we a soft touch or just a lovely compassionate country with enough resources for all?

You should have done a smilley face .

I am sick of the casual racism and insults towards the British. Also the empire is long gone, my GM never benefited from the empire, neither did my great uncles killed in World War 1, my GM had her house compulsary purchashed for next to nothing (it wasn't slum housing, the next street still standing is now worth millions) and was stuck in a council flat, it means nothing to this generation of disabled people, young unemployed etc who are affected daily by the cuts.

Immigration as it is happening now should be discussed seperately from 'the empire', on its own merits and downfalls. Just to add we didn't have an empire in any of the EU countries but alot of soldiers lost their lives keeping Europe free of the Nazi's and was rewarded by the creation of the welfare state (as was other nations under their own system, except for some soldiers Burka's etc).

She'll have done what she has as she wouldn't have a hope in hell of getting here legally. (I would hope). Unskilled with 5 children to support. I can't really see her being deemed a useful UK citizen.

'I am sick of the casual racism and insults towards the British.'

I am as well, and also of the idea that modern people, modern taxpayers, must atone for the sins of past governments by opening their borders and services to all and sundry and pay for it.

There's no one alive today who is responsible for British actions in African in the 1800 and 1900s.

It is not our moral or finacial obligation to convert the NHS into an IHS or to grant permanent residency to people who enter illegally.

Africa, sorry.

Furthermore, not everyone in Africa is a desperate, poverty-stricken starving person.

In order to obtain a visitor's visa to begin with, this lady had to show some wherewithal.

Lachesis- i contacted MN to say sorry about reporting your post .

Not to worry.

Have to go out soon.

It's just been announced that care for our own elderly will require an additional £2bn/annum.

But it's fine for people to enter illegally and use the healthcare system.

Lachesis you are articulate.

F**king peasants

Catgirl do you pay tax?

Yes. Am an additional rate tax payer.

Good for you. Thanks for the reply. I've found on mn that those who are often tremendously generous with other people's money are not. But there we are.

No one has said at any point in this thread that the NHS should be open to anyone and everyone. What they have said is that the Sun has taken one incident and used it and twisted it to create fear, panic and predjudice. However some people on this thread refuse to accept that and depsite no one being able to provide any stats or facts on this issue seek to blame individuals for complex issues and problems. I find it very disturbing

The thread was about health tourism, not the Sun's crapness.

The tabloid press are playing on peoples fears and always have done. They use the same style of reporting to scapegoat ;single mothers, the youth of today, lazy Brits, travellers and anyone else they decide to target.

The point of the thread was what can be done about the abuse of the immigration system and NHS. It doesn't matter what it costs, if it costs anything then it should be investigated how it can be stopped.

No. The OP was - is this individual woman taking the piss. And then the thread degenerated into xenophobic ranting

You agree then that health tourism is an abuse? Whatever the rights and wrongs of this case, if a person travels specifically to the UK to use the health service in this way, you would agree that is abuse and shouldn't happen?

I don't see that as very complex, to be honest. It doesn't mean there aren't other problems in the health service. It doesn't mean there aren't problems in Nigeria with the health service there, or problems with foreign aid, or problems with a bottomless NHS demand within the UK, or that other people's babies wouldn't fall sick and die without such health tourism.

It just means that people travelling to the UK to use free health services constitutes an abuse. As there is a finite supply of health services this means that people in the UK who pay through their taxes for the NHS will not receive the quality of care at point of access which they should able to expect.

I don't see that as very complex. There are complex issues: but this is not one of them.

That was meant for catgirl. I ain't quick enough.

Cat,I keep coming back to this thread hoping to find posters who aren't xenophobic, but unfortunately they seem to be in the majority.
It's not like Mumsnet at all, is it?

I agree that Health Tourism is an abuse. I do not necesaarily believe that the Sun has reported this case factually or accuratley and would not like to pass judgement on an individual case with having all the salient facts. I do not agree Health Tourism is the reason the NHS is in a mess or why resources are overstretched. I would like to hear actual figures around health tourism as I suspect it is far less of an issue than the Sun would like to portray. I imagine as a % of overall NHS spending it would constitue a minute figure, but I would be very interested to know what this actually is.

The OP asked if the woman was taking the piss and questioned wether she would be allowed to stay. Well yes,. she is taking the piss, but as i said, i don't blame the individual and we will see if she is allowed to stay.

Many posting on here, myself included, have disabled children who's services are being cut and are waiting for treatment, i'm sorry, but we are entitled to an opinion, as some said, on how our tax money is being spent.

You claim that no one has stated facts, if we can afford this womans treatment and five more people, then why doesn't my DD get the speech therapy she needs? I don't believe, however, that any money saved will be put back into services, theres always wars, unnecessary expences etc to pay for.

I would be interested too, as I've read reports of very overstretched maternity units because of this problem. I think your dismissal of the cost of her care as a drop on the ocean is rather cavalier, considering that at no stage is it the responsibility of any taxpayer to meet that cost or any other costs arising, and considering you don't know what the health tourism cost is as a whole. I'm not sure which facts you question but I think as she's not a refugee, and was not resident here, and travelled here when she was pregnant on a tourist visa, and has had recourse to public funds, then it's difficult to challenge the basis of the claim.

Who's xenophobic

this report, for example, talks of 24m in eight months, though I haven't read it through and haven't seen any original statistics

I'm sure you can find other links that might contradict this - perhaps we can investigate.

HIV drugs cost around £10k per year, there are many here who have come for treatment and are not sent back, it isn't just the NHS, the bill goes across social care and into elderly care, we need to reduce the population, there are to many people fighting for housing, jobs, services, education.

Sadly it doesnt work in a way where if they don't treat this woman there is automatically more money for the support your children need. The NHS is mis-managed and the government spending more so. The solution is not to make scapegoats out of individual cases or to blame "health tourism" for the resource issues faced by NHS and UK as a whole. That is simply lazy, convenient and plays to peoples xenophobia. The Sun know it will sell papers as large proportion of its readers are bigoted and happy to take an easy blame for complex issues. The whole MP expenses scandal was HUGE news but the actual money mis-spent was only around £1 million pounds. Sounds a lot when sensationalised by the media, but in real terms it is tiny (something like 0.000006% of the ANNUAL UK deficit) yet generates huge coverage.