So much for controlling immigration!

The oft-repeated phrase "Not all leave voters are racists but all racists voted leave" is still proving true.

Leaving the EU will not affect people from non-EU countries arriving for NHS treatment, nor will affect the number of illegal immigrants from countries such as Albania.

In any case, the amount spent by NHS on people who aren't eligible is tiny as a percentage of the NHS budget. By definition, we don't know how many "illegal" immigrants are in the country, but again it's tiny compared with the number who are here legally.

I really don't understand the logic. It's on par with the dingbat on YouTube, who claimed on the day after Brexit that all Muslims would now be "sent home".

Which EU country did “that African woman” come from?

Fennel, borders will close after 31st of October. Why do you think that more are risking their lives ? Others always know these things before we do, but since it's already been said on the news, word has spread rapidly.

No arrangements/facilities were ever met when we agreed to take in refugees. No homes. No medical support. No checks for diseases,etc. Young men posing as teenagers and nobody noticing ( rolls eyes )

No organisation whatsoever that you just get to a stage where you couldn't care less what happens now. I've given up thinking that those involved with the settlement of these people hadn't got the sense they were born with. The problem lies with the powers that be who opened the door for them in the first place.

It ain't my problem ! As long as it doesn't interfere with my way of life, people can come and go as they like.

I don't suppose the rise in numbers trying to reach the UK in unseaworthy boats has anything to do with the end of summer and the thought that the seas will be even more unhospitable in winter

Growstuff how on earth can you say the numbers of illegal immigrants here is tiny yet admit it is not known how many are here.

That makes no sense does it?

For all we know it could be millions

It could be millions for all I know, but if it were, I think we'd see them spilling over on to our streets or seeking healthcare or education. They have to eat, so where do they get their food from. Or their money to buy clothes, etc? It just isn't possible to hide millions of people.

Seems to be the right place for this....

There are reasonable estimates, but there is a huge variation, which is why I stated that it's not possible to give a figure. However, people living here illegally have no recourse to the public purse. They are, quite literally, living undercover, parallel lives.

Maw

2:35:34
Does anyone remember that case of some African woman who turned up here pregnant with quads. They were born here which cost the NHS many thousands. She has now gone back having not paid a penny and the authorities have no idea where she is

Actually, Jennifer Eccles I don’t.
But I am glad we were able to help another women give birth safely.
It’s no skin off your or my nose is it?

MawB

No, it is no skin off our nose, but if hundreds of pregnant women from overseas followed suit, the paucity of maternity facilities and midwives might make a difference to women here giving birth.

That sounded familiar to me JenniferEccles so I googled it and found that in August 2015 a London hospital announced it was no longer pursuing a Nigerian woman who gave birth to quads and never paid her bill of £250K.

There was another of a Nigerian woman who having given birth to quads in a London hospital, at the cost of £500k! left the country and has not been traced.

Just 2 cases admittedly but the cost to the NHS for these was huge.

PS second case was in January 2017

The Nigerian woman went into labour on a flight from Chicago to Heathrow. She had flown to America to have her quads, expected to be born 3 months later, but she was refused entry. One of the quads was stillborn, another died soon after birth. This was unplanned emergency treatment, which is not denied to those who need it. Do you feel it should be? That she should have been put onto another plane and sent to Nigeria, in labour, to lose all four babies in midair?

There is a very different side to maternity health care for asylum seekers (who are not "health tourists") Women have been known to be so afraid of being jailed that they don't register for maternity care under the NHS, although that is exempt from charges. They have been admitted to hospital already in labour, having had no prenatal care at all. pregnant asylum seekers afraid to seek medical care

In any case, how does leaving the EU stop these kind of cases?

One of the biggest reasons people who aren't eligible access NHS care is because they are ex-pats, who return to the UK for health treatment, giving the address of a friend/relative or a property they still own but rent out.

Eligibility for NHS care depends on residency not nationality.

These are the ONS figures from 2017. Apart from Poland, Ireland, Romania and Italy, EU countries don't even make it into the table of top 10 nationalities of immigrants.

The UK can't stop immigrants from Ireland. The UK could and still could stop immigration from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and any other non-EU country. Leaving the EU won't make any difference, nor will it make any difference to so-called health tourists and illegal immigration from non-EU countries.

It's likely that more people will be classified as illegal immigrants. Some of these will be people who have lived here legally for decades, but can't find/don't have the paperwork to be granted settled status.

I grew up in a wonderful country and now live in an equally wonderful one. I have two children. When they were young and dependant on me for their health and welfare, if I had been unfortunate enough to have lost the roll of the dice in life, and lived in a war-torn poverty-stricken sh*thole, I would have done ANYTHING to give them a better life. Some places I can't even travel to anymore as the poverty is so awful it haunts me for months afterwards (so much for my "dream trip" to Peru - what a nightmare). Add war, powercuts, fetid water and no hope to the mix. Those of us that live here are so so lucky.

Canucka We are!

Did anyone say that emergency treatment should be denied Elegran?

some African woman who turned up here

Weren't we talking about immigration?

What has some African woman got to do with it?

They will continue to flood in here though, as long as we conveniently provide a water taxi service....

..have you ever bothered to speak to an immigrant JE?

Weren't we supposed to be over run by Bulgarians flooding in or was is Romanians.......any how, I see no evidence of the flood.

However you like to dress it up the fact remains that we simply can’t continue to take hundreds of thousands of migrants per year without our infrastructure breaking down.

It is NOT racist to state that fact.