All refused asylum seekers should be entitled to healthcare, says Judge

A judge at the High Court last Friday ruled that all refused asylum seekers should be entitled to healthcare, marking a major breakthrough in the campaign to restore healthcare to all asylum seekers regardless of where they are in the process.

The court heard the case of A, a Palestinian man who had been refused asylum but was unable to return home and was, in fact, stateless. He has chronic liver disease but in 2006 his hospital treatment was stopped on the basis that he was unable to pay for it. This was in accordance with regulations introduced in April 2004 that denied refused asylum seekers, and other ‘overseas visitors’, from accessing secondary healthcare unless they were able to pay for it. Since then, asylum seekers at the end of the process have either been refused hospital treatment, or been chased by debt collectors and threatened with bailiffs to pay for their treatment, which includes maternity care and treatment for chronic diseases including cancer and HIV.

The judge ruled that refused asylum seekers counted as ‘ordinarily resident’, and therefore should be entitled to healthcare along with other UK residents. He immediately gave the Department of Health leave to appeal, but for now all asylum seekers will be entitled to hospital treatment until the case has been finally resolved.