Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41971676›Full record

ArticleCritical social policy2026

The representation of migrants in policy and parliament: A Bacchian analysis of the UK's immigration health surcharge.

Joanne Alexander, Aisha Macgregor, Laurence Lessard-Phillips, Tim Sedgley, Liz Forbat

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Critical social policy, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Joanne AlexanderUniversity of Stirling, UK.
Aisha MacgregorUniversity of Stirling, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5812-9323
Laurence Lessard-PhillipsUniversity of Birmingham, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5881-5569
Tim SedgleyUniversity of Stirling, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0099-3200
Liz ForbatUniversity of Stirling, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7218-5775

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite the promise of the NHS being open to all, charging regulations and policy for non-UK citizens have been introduced. This article reports an analysis of policies and parliamentary debates linked to the UK's Immigration Health Surcharge. We use Bacchi's 'what's the problem represented to be' approach to understand how migrants and their healthcare access are represented and problematised within current health policy and related parliamentary debates. Core problem formulations relate to historic over-generosity of the NHS to migrants and overseas visitors; a lack of fairness in contributions to the NHS by British taxpayers compared to migrants; and a threat to the NHS's long-term sustainability due to migrants' and overseas visitors' misuse. This represents migrants as a financial drain on the NHS and, consequently, a risk to its continuation. Together, the problem formulations produce a justification and rationale for the Immigration Health Surcharge and its subsequent increases.

Indexed as

Bacchihealthimmigrationproblem representation

Identifiers

PMID41971676
PMCPMC13068314

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.