Pregnant Spanish woman says NHS put her health at risk with ‘threatening’ action

Exclusive: ‘There is a threatening, intimidating tone in the letter. It is not necessary or good to have this pressure on any pregnant woman,’ she says

The 34-year-old says she feared the 'threatening' action would lead to delays in care for her or her baby (Getty/iStock)

A pregnant Spanish woman was told by the NHS her data would be shared with the Home Office if she didn’t prove she had the right to be in Britain – despite being an EU citizen who had lived in the UK for years.

The 34-year-old, who chose to remain anonymous, said she feared the “threatening” action would lead to delays in care for her or her baby.

Campaigners warned such letters were being sent out to a much wider group of women – which increasingly includes EU nationals – in the wake of the Brexit vote and the government’s hostile environment policies.

The warnings come after the deaths of three pregnant women were directly linked to the Conservative government’s stringent charging system in a major report that came out in December. The women died after delays in seeking help due to wrongly thinking they would have to pay for care.

The woman, who has been living and working in London for five years, told The Independent: “I was very surprised and anxious when I received the letter. I was worried because I have heard a lot about Brexit and that made me feel in doubt about access to free medical treatment. There is a threatening, intimidating tone in the letter. It is not necessary or good to have this pressure on any pregnant woman.

“If for any reason I was not able to respond to the letter within the deadline, my treatment would have been delayed. What if I wasn’t able to send all the documents within the deadline, my treatment would have stopped. Also, they said they would share my data with the Home Office. I am lucky I am having a healthy pregnancy. I can’t imagine the impact a letter like this would have if I wasn’t. When my case-worker contacted the hospital, they said it was a letter they were sending to everyone else.”

She said the NHS left her alone after she provided all the correct documents and she was able to receive free antenatal care, but hit out at the fact she had received the “aggressive letter” in the first place – noting she had not encountered such obstacles to antenatal care when she gave birth to her first child in the UK several years ago.

She added: “My worry is we don’t have a lot of information about what will happen after Brexit. We don’t know what is going to happen. We have questions and health is one of them.”

A copy of the letter seen by The Independent says: “If we do not hear from you by this date we may have to share your non-clinical data with the Home Office for the purpose of determining your immigration status”.

Rosalind Bragg, director of Maternity Action, said: “More recently NHS trusts have been sending out letters to a much wider group of women. These are part of the hostile environment policies. We are very concerned that aggressive letters are deterring women from life-saving maternity care and putting both mother and baby at risk. There is very good evidence to show missing maternity appointments has potential risks to the mother and baby.

“It is very worrying when women are confronted with demands for immigration documents and utility bills, which they may not have. The net is cast very widely so many of the women who receive these letters are entitled to free care. The letters are quite distressing for women – many of whom don’t have English as their first language.

“Our research shows women are deterred from attending maternity care appointments because of fear of charging and being reported to the Home Office. Reducing stress is an important part of maternity care. It is important to protect the health of the baby and the mother – reducing risks of postnatal depression.”

A Yale University study published last week found stress during pregnancy may inflict damage on a child that lasts a lifetime, with exposure to the stress hormone while in the womb permanently changing many immune system reactions, reducing the body’s capacity to keep bacterial infections at bay and fight tumours.

Gisela Valle, director of Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS), which advised the woman who received the letter, said: “By issuing letters threatening migrant women to pass their nonclinical information to the Home Office if they don’t prove their immigration status within a quite limited period of time, the NHS is going well beyond their authority to request payment for services to becoming effectively an immigration enforcement agency.

“Additionally, this expansion of the hostile environment to include European women before the end of the transition period contravenes the freedom of movement that is still applicable to the UK. Moreover, this policy exposes expectant mothers to unnecessary health risks.

“We already know that these measures disproportionately impact black and minority ethnic communities, often regardless of immigration status, and in light of the current health risks faced by the country it makes no sense to have the NHS departing from their mandate to protect the public’s health to become an immigration enforcer.”

Doctors and campaigners previously told The Independent migrant women who have miscarriages are being wrongly charged £7,000 for antenatal care despite never going into labour.

Rules specify overseas women from outside the European Union who are expecting a baby must be charged for NHS care – with charges starting at around £7,000 but potentially doubling if there are complications with the pregnancy.

Maternity Action and the Royal College of Midwives has urged the government to immediately suspend charging for NHS maternity care and argued debt from maternity care should be stopped from affecting future immigration applications.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Every woman and baby deserves to receive high-quality, safe maternity care, no matter where they live or who they are.

“Midwives, doctors, neonatal nurses and maternity support workers are working tirelessly to ensure women and babies are getting the support they need, but we know more needs to be done.

“Since 2017, we have launched a range of maternity safety improvements – including more data, more support and clearer processes for reviews and investigations – to ensure better outcomes for mothers and babies and help the NHS continuously improve.”