It’s when you visit an NHS hospital, or have the misfortune to get sick and require its services, that you realise the great miracle it is. A health system whereby you are treated for free at the point of delivery. Yes, of course we pay a fair old wedge out of our taxes to have an NHS in the first place but on the evidence I have seen it’s one thing that makes me proud of my country.
Yesterday, I visited an old friend who is in a Bristol hospital, who’s had a major operation that has clearly gone very well. Misery has been replaced by hope as a result of people who believe in public service, that public service being to make sick people better. Just when you thought that darkness had won, light came in to save the day.
I was struck by the number of NHS staff members who were, that most hated of all groups, foreigners. And when I say foreigners, I mean people who aren’t originally from the UK who now look after sick people and save lives. Absolute bastards. Where’s Suella Braverman when you need her?
Anyway, here’s the thing. When the GREAT BRITISH PUBLIC were asked about immigration, 63% of us said Johnny Foreigner should not be allowed in. You see, they’re coming over here, taking our jobs as well as claiming benefits for being unemployed or, alternatively, doing the jobs no one else wants to do and -SHOCK! HORROR! – they look after us when we need looking after.
Dig deeper and actually we don’t mind too much if bloody foreigners come over here to work, not just in the NHS but in the wider care sector, like care homes. In fact, in quite a lot of jobs, if the truth be known. But ask a straight question like “Do you think immigration is too high?” and the knee-jerk reaction is YES. When the knees stop jerking, maybe not so much.
I always think, though, if it’s okay for people to come from abroad to work in the healthcare sector, then why isn’t it okay for them to do other jobs that we don’t want to do, like fruit picking? I can see the argument that a major issue is the general lack of available and affordable housing for Brits, never mind foreign workers. This is a major failing of our government which has presided over a shambles of housing planning for 13 years, as well as a shambles of a migration system. And the simple truth is that if the government wanted to end the housing crisis and the migration crisis, they could.
I just want an NHS that works and I don’t care where the doctor, nurse or anyone else who works for it comes from. If the 63% really hate overseas workers so much, maybe they could pass up their NHS medical treatment for those of us who don’t and just take their chances?
