PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Suspension of NHS charges for maternity care (13 January 2020)

That this House is deeply concerned by the growing body of evidence, including research reports by Doctors of the World, Maternity Action and the British Medical Association, that the NHS England overseas visitors charging regime is deterring vulnerable migrant women living in the UK from seeking essential maternity care; is further concerned that the MBRRACE-UK report, Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care 2019, published on 13 December 2019, links the charging regime and a possible fear of being charged to the deaths of three women who delayed seeking critical antenatal care in 2015-17; notes that the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Faculty of Public Health, the Academy of Royal Colleges, the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Royal College of Midwives have all urged ministers to suspend the charging regime pending a full independent review of its impact on individual and public health; further notes that less than 40 per cent of the total sum of charges levied in England in recent years has actually been recovered by the NHS; agrees with the stated view of the Royal College of Midwives that the Government has a duty to give the NHS the resources it needs and should not be using NHS clinicians to patrol our borders; and urges the Government to respond positively to Maternity Action’s call, supported by the Royal College of Midwives, for the immediate suspension of charging for NHS maternity care.

Sponsored by:
Kate Green (Labour)