Polish baby boom in UK

[WendyWeber]

blimey - I know they are a valuable addition to our economy, and work v hard, but from 1300 in 2003 to 13000 in 2007; that would be 130,000 in 2011 and 1,300,000 in 2015 if they carry on at the same rate

It's a real problem for my local maternity services - just not set up to cope with such a sudden, unexpected peak in demand.

Friend of mine is a Polish translator - she had to translate a conversation with a midwife telling a woman that she wouldn't be allowed a translator during labour and should bring in a Polish/English dictionary.

Oh good grief, I hadn't even considered that aspect, edam!

Are any/many Polish women training as midwives? (Or Polish midwives migrating?)

More dodgy maths from the Daily Mail... I agree that immigration is an important issue and needs debate but I find this type of scaremongering journalism rather offensive.

The dodgy maths was mine, not the DM's, ddbb - I was merely extrapolating from the existing figures (was meant to be jokey, sorry)

I think the figures quoted in the piece are accurate though?

What's offensive about it, exactly? My local hospital is struggling to cope. They didn't know there were going to be so many immigrants having so many babies.

This is the problem with any discussion about immigration - there is always someone that finds it offensive. Mass immigration is a serious problem in this country for many, many reasons. Not talking about it just in case you're percieved as being racist is not going to solve any of them.

All the Polish I have met are really lovely, hardworking people who are only in the UK for a few years then they return home.

As for the baby boom well yes it is a problem because like another poster mentioned- the maternity services are going to struggle big time and the gov won't train more midwives. Our local mat hosp is struggling to cope because of the influx of poles.

Blame the gov its no one elses fault.

Articles like this are so damaging in terms of whipping up anti-Polish feeling in the country.
Perhaps if wealth was more evenly distributed across Europe, people would not have to leave their own countries to seek a living? Many of these young Polish families are struggling to survive here, and live in poor conditions with few support networks. I know of women who are very isolated with young babies and children and TBH don't know how they manage to cope. I am sure they would much rather be near their friends and family in Poland, but the pay is so low there it is practically impossible to survive.

Plenty of 'Brits' leave the UK to live in Spain, France for a better standard of living. Often they sell property here and can afford to live well without even working. I know they make full use of health and education services there, and no one complains.

Isn't it then a case of people leaving the UK to be replaced by Eastern Europeans who are prepared to do crap,low paid jobs no-one else wants to do. I think the 'Brits' who leave get the better deal.

British emigration is a red herring. It's up to the Spanish and the French to highlight, if they choose, about any issues they face as a result of emigrant Britons.

The issue we face is unprecedented mass immigration. That does have an effect. How can it not?!

And we need to be open about both negative and positive effects. That could actually help immigrants by exposing, for instance, exploitative landlords who cram people into unsuitable housing.

i felt sorry for the headteachers on tv this morning. they can cope with them but the government aren't giving them nowhere near enough to pay teachers. the funds to pay for them are coming out of the school's budget.

A Bulgarian girl I know who got pregnant went back to Bulgaria for "better healthcare". Thought she was mad until I had my first baby in the local north london hospital...

most of the Polish people I know speak English better than some people born here and would therefore not need a translator

I'm sure that's true of many people, but my friend the Polish translator has to turn away work, despite not being fully qualified yet - they just can't find enough fully qualified translators to keep up with demand (I'm sure she's v. good, she's bi-lingual anyway).

I think I'd like to go and live in Poland for a while. Apparently organic home-grown produce is about the only kind you can buy over there. Over here it's a luxury you pay extra for.

I am no economist but surely the government and the european parliament could be doing something to address the pressure on education/health services.

On a personal level I am enjoying the influx of eastern europeans into our neighbourhood. IME they are friendly, open people who really want to integrate. I love hearing all the different languages spoken as well, and especially love the fact local children are so accepting of it all.

There has been such a strong history of friendship between Poland and Britain since the second world war, and such a harmonious presence of a smallish community of Poles since the war. And since the new wave of Polish immigration almost all media sources have been conspicuously careful to speak in positive terms of the new immigrants.

I think that this has generated a context in which it is possible to speak frankly and constructively about the real difficulties for infrastructure that the very high numbers generate. The government has fudged the whole issue, by miscounting and refusing to fund necessary expansion of infrastructure. It would be catastrophic to fail to speak of the problem because of an ill-founded anxiety about causing offence.

I think it's probably not helpful to restrict discussion to the Poles. There has been an influx of immigrants from various Eastern European countries (not to mention elsewhere) and I do think the government is burying its head in the sand wrt helping local authorities cope. Of course some of them will speak English, but a large number do not - and make no effort to learn - which places a huge burden on many different agencies. Apart from the health service and schools, the police and the courts also have to employ translators - at huge cost - to ensure that immigrants are treated fairly and receive a fair trial.

If the government doesn't address this issue, then all these agencies will end up providing a less than acceptable standard of service to everyone because they just don't have the funds to cope.

i am sending out stuff from my dhs work this morning

I would say 30 percent of them are to polish people

those surnames are a bitch to type

DH is Polish. On the day of our wedding he gave me something long and hard -- his surname!

Actually I kept my name, and our DCs have my surname too, precisely to save them the hassle of speilling out a Polish name 20 times a day.

The only polish person I know is an english-speaking posh boy with more degrees than me.

I am hearing a LOT of abuse towards "the polish" though - it shocks me. Only yesterday I had a mailorder company ring me up about a delivery and the switchboard operator said I couldn't leave a message on the consignment because "The drivers are polish, and they can't read english."

He was, as always, a very nice local Somerset chap.

Yes I have heard derogatory comments too, and by people who probably wouldn't dare say anything about black people for fear of being called racist. I think they are easy targets for people to make nasty comments about

so many polish people are doing jobs the English don't want though. Working in care homes, manual labour, bus drivers even, those jobs were waiting to be filled. And they work hard and the ones are know are great. I think good luck to them.

I bet if all the British people who complain about immigration were forced to do the jobs that immigrants tend to do, they would soon stop complaining.

My parents came from Jamaica to do the low paid work that the high and mighty indigneous peopulation deemed beneath them. People complained then about the pressure on NHS resources and schools blah, blah, blah.

Nothing has changed.

Issues like this highlight just how many xenophobic and spiteful people there are in this country. Funny how nobody ever complains about the French, German, American, Australian, New Zealanders, Swedish etc.

All immigrants are equal but some are more equal than others methinks.

Better stop there for now.