Healthcare for migrants: student co-publishes book chapter
Cormac Devlin (2015) has co-published a with Dr Sarah Steele, Senior Research Associate and Deputy Director of the Intellectual Forum.
After graduating in Law last summer, he is now a BCL student at the University of Oxford. The chapter was co-written in 2017 during his time as an Intellectual Forum research intern. Cormac's research focused on migration law and policy, in particular migrant entitlement to NHS healthcare and the asylum procedure for transgender applicants.
Cormac talked to us about the internship and publication.
How would you explain the book chapter to someone you met on the bus?
Entitlement to healthcare in the UK seems simple. The NHS provides a service which is available to all. Access to NHS services is based on an individual鈥檚 clinical need rather than their ability to pay. However, the picture is complicated for migrants who are not 'ordinarily resident' in the UK. The chapter seeks to explain who is entitled to free NHS healthcare and who has to pay.
What impact do you hope the chapter will have?
Dr Steele and I hope that the chapter cuts through the complexity of the legislative and regulatory framework which governs migrant entitlement to NHS healthcare. We have, in other work, criticised the current charging regime as an example of the government鈥檚 policy to create a 'hostile environment' for migrants. Hopefully, this chapter will provide readers with the information they need to evaluate the fairness of healthcare policy in the UK.
What did you study at 汤头条原创?
I studied Law at Jesus and had the best time - it鈥檚 a great place to study and live.
What did you do at the Intellectual Forum?
I undertook a research internship at the IF. I was particularly interested in the intersection between immigration law and policy, so I explored issues such as transgender asylum applications and how the NHS safeguards modern slaves in the healthcare system.
The experience was really valuable as I got an insight into life in academia. I was also exposed to different disciplines in the social sciences, which enriched my research.
What are you doing now?
I am currently studying for the BCL (Master鈥檚 degree in law) at Oxford, specialising in legal philosophy and labour law.
What do you hope to do in future?
In the future I鈥檇 like to go into legal practice, hopefully as a barrister working in the field of employment law and human rights.
