Schemes to hand "asylum seekers" priority access to NHS treatment have sparked outrage after it emerged migrants are being given "preferential medical treatment" over British taxpayers.
One scheme, called "987 Inclusion Health", allows certain patients including "undocumented migrants" to gain an "A&E level of access" to healthcare - without A&E wait times.
Homeless people and drug users also qualify for the priority access at London's University College Hospital - while similar initiatives have also popped up around the country.
And in Stoke-on-Trent, one NHS team helps "failed asylum seekers, many of whom are homeless and destitute with no recourse to public funds" to gain access to GPs and dental care, while south London community centres offer "walk-in services" to refused asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
Refused asylum seekers can still register with a GP and receive primary care free of charge
PAThe schemes have sparked uproar from critics - not least the former Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
He told The Telegraph: "It is outrageous that those here illegally are prioritised over British taxpayers, and it reinforces, once again, the concern that the NHS has become an international service, not a national health service.
"There should not be preferential treatment for those here illegally at our expense, and I think the public will be outraged to discover that's the case.
"NHS England should give clear answers as to why."
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The scheme to hand 'asylum seekers' priority access to NHS treatment has sparked outrage (file photo)
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Refused asylum seekers can still register with a GP and receive primary care free of charge, regardless of their immigration status.
In Scotland and Wales, they are also entitled to the same level of hospital treatment as locals, while in England, any A&E visit is still free - though further treatment is paid-for at 150 per cent of the national NHS rate.
Patients can get around paying if they can prove they are unable to return to their home country, or are receiving help from the local authority due to a disability or being made homeless, however.
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: "We welcome the fact that Britain’s nurses and doctors - many of whom come from migrant and refugee backgrounds themselves - provide healthcare for those seeking asylum so they can access essential medical support when they need it."
Reform UK's Richard Tice and Nigel Farage have voiced their fury at the schemes
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But Dr Karol Sikora, the leading cancer specialist, said prioritising "certain categories" of people formed part of a "misguided diversity agenda".
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Welcome to Keir Starmer's Britain. This is unfair, it's wrong, and only Reform will end it."
While the party's deputy leader Richard Tice added: "This sums up broken Britain. Whilst hard-working British people are waiting weeks for GP appointments and hours on end in A&E, illegals get to cut to the front of the queue.
"The Tories started this and now Labour continue to make a mockery of those that pay into the system for these services.
"Reform UK are clear, those that try to come over in boats will be turned back and those that have already come via boats will be deported and not get special treatment."
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) told The Telegraph: "It is vital that all vulnerable members of society, including asylum seekers, are able to access the healthcare they need, and it has been a legal requirement under successive governments for local NHS commissioners to take the right steps through individual contracts to enable this.
"Our £26billion investment in the NHS and reforms to the health service will make sure that it's there for everyone, once again."
