Policy allowing Home Office to target people for deportation using NHS data scrapped

Lara Ten Caten

A policy allowing the Home Office to request patient data from the NHS to target people for deportation has been abolished following a legal challenge.

The agreement gave the Home Office access to confidential patient information to aid immigration enforcement.

Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN), represented by Liberty and Matrix Chambers, took legal action against the arrangement because it violated patient confidentiality, discriminated against non-British patients and left seriously unwell people fearful of seeking medical care.

Under the pressure of the legal challenge, the UK government announced in May 2018 that the data-sharing deal would be suspended – but remain in place.

NHS Digital has now confirmed to the court it will completely withdraw the data-sharing deal made between itself, the Department of Health and the Home Office.

Rita Chadha, 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 the access to health care, 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.”

Lara Ten Caten, lawyer for Liberty, 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.”