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What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 1:25 pm
by Dominic
A Commonwealth-born veteran, who served for more than a decade in the British army including tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, has been told he must pay more than £27,000 for NHS hospital bills after an emergency operation to remove a brain tumour.Hospital staff have classified Taitusi Ratucaucau, 49, as an overseas patient, and therefore ineligible for free NHS care. He joined the British army in 2001 and has been continuously in the UK since being discharged from the military in 2011, living here with his wife and three daughters, and paying tax and national insurance.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding ... EHW_LwXZgw
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 1:52 pm
by trevnhil
This is scandalous, and should be totally wrong with the information given ...
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 2:19 pm
by Devil
trevnhil wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 1:52 pm
This is scandalous, and should be totally wrong
with the information given ...
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 3:08 pm
by Varky
Just more evidence that the Home Office under Priti Patel, Amber Rudd, Sajid Javed and Teresa May is/was not fit for purpose.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:25 pm
by Jimgym
That is disgraceful. If he is able to fight for Britain then he should receive free treatment. I hope this disgusting decision is overturned, and soon.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:34 pm
by boycott
If you read the BBC article (
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52818867) it appears that he knew the rules and had declined to pay the fees involved.
It reads - He left in 2011 thinking he had a right to remain in the country that is now also home to his wife and three children.
But it would cost him almost £10,000 to apply for his family to be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain. It is another bill he says he cannot afford. - in the article.
His QC also says - Mr Metzer says the fact that his clients have "no settled status here at all, feeds a real sense of uncertainty and deep injustice".
So he was fully aware of the circrumstances about staying/living in the UK and it could be said he wasn't prepared to pay for the pleasure of living there.
Sorry sounds harsh but he knew the rules.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 5:17 pm
by Chaddy
He had no need to worry he will have the charges squashed and get permission to stay here,,,inevitable.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 6:18 pm
by Devil
Chaddy wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 5:17 pm
He had no need to worry he will have the charges squashed and get permission to stay here,,,inevitable.
... and with a lot of lolly!
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 8:20 am
by Kili01
For many years while my husband was working and living In Hong Kong, we were denied any access to the NHS, even though he had previously served in the RAF. This despite the fact that he continued to pay Class3 (voluntary) National Insurance payments.
Dee
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 9:28 am
by galexinda
Kili01 wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2020 8:20 am
For many years while my husband was working and living In Hong Kong, we were denied any access to the NHS, even though he had previously served in the RAF. This despite the fact that he continued to pay Class3 (voluntary) National Insurance payments.
Dee
Also paid Class 3 voluntary NI payments while overseas for many years and understood it was purely for payment towards the UK state pension. Thank goodness we did pay as it entitled us to a full state pension when the time came.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?Q
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 1:12 pm
by Kili01
Yes it did for us, us too. But I think it was still less than we would have got if my husband had been paying Class 1 for his whole working life.
Dee
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 1:51 pm
by Lofos-Jan
10 years service in the British army and a complicated process costing £10,000 to apply. Personally I think it’s a disgrace. ANYONE who puts their life directly on the line for the country should have an automatic right to remain at no cost and with help to make the application. Or are we operating some kind of paid mercenary system?
Jeanne
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 2:04 pm
by Dominic
Can't believe some people are actually trying to defend this nonsense.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 2:32 pm
by Devil
Dominic wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2020 2:04 pm
Can't believe some people are actually trying to defend this nonsense.
Sorry, Dominic. To which nonsense are people trying to defend? To those who think the guy should be paid, to those who think the guy should not be paid or those who are crowdfunding the guy?
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 2:40 pm
by Dominic
If you cannot tell that from the opening post then there isn't much hope for you.
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 5:37 pm
by Kili01
Dominic, I'm afraid the UK has always treated ex- servicemen badly. The soldiers who served for years in the Gurhka Regiments were also very badly treated. Once they finished their years of service they were sent back to Nepal again with their families with little or no pensions or anything.
Even now many ex-servicemen who served in the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan when they are de mobbed are semi abandoned and if they can't find employment they end up sleeping rough.
I think all this is appalling and much more should be done for these people whether they are British or from another country.
Dee
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 6:41 pm
by Devil
Dominic wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2020 2:40 pm
If you cannot tell that from the opening post then there isn't much hope for you.
How am I supposed to know that you haven't changed your mind between the first post and mine?
Re: What the hell is wrong with the UK?
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:04 am
by Diocletian
I recall a few years ago during a WWII commemoration, John Major discovered that Gurkha VC holders were paid a significantly reduced award for their gallantry. This was corrected very quickly and rightly so.