We wrote about Albert Thompson’s (not his real name) ordeal in our April Newsletter . Despite living in London for 44 years and paying 3 decades of taxes Thompson was told that unless he can prove he is legally entitled to live in the UK he will have to pay the full £54,000 for his cancer treatment upfront.
Even though Thompson is not strictly speaking part of the Windrush generation, the wide reporting of the Windrush scandal has shone a spotlight on Thompson’s case and after previously refusing to intervene on Albert’s behalf Theresa May had to answer direct questions about Albert’s case this week and said that he would “be receiving the treatment he needs”.
This is great news and thanks so much to all those who have been campaigning on his behalf. Thanks to your efforts even the Daily Mail has now launched a campaign to support Thompson.
However, despite May’s assurances in ParliamentThe Guardian reports that Thompson only received a brief call on Wednesday night from a consultant at the Royal Marsden telling him that he would receive an appointment letter in “two or three weeks’ time,” and asking him to come in so he could have some blood tests. They said that “Thompson was despondent about the cursory nature of the contact.”
The team behind the change.org campaign Home Office: Give Albert Thompson the right to cancer care are also asking that people tweet Amber Rudd and Theresa May and ask them to confirm that Thompson will be getting the cancer treatment he needs. The Government are yet to tell Thompson or Praxis (who are supporting him) that his treatment will be going ahead directly.
You can read more about this on change.org.
Please see this Guardian article for more stories of people affected by the Windrush Scandal.
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