I’ve Worked Hard In The NHS For 17 Years But Since Brexit I’ve Felt Like A Second Class Citizen

by Guest Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:00 am

This blog is an unedited version of a speech, which will be delivered by Joan Pons Laplana, on Monday. He will be speaking at a One Day Without Us event organised with Unison.

I came to the UK 17 years ago to pursue my dream of becoming a nurse. I landed in Luton on bonfire night with just £50 in my pocket and a suitcase full of hope. I have worked hard for the NHS ever since.

I am one of the three million EU citizens who live in this country but I feel that the government is treating us as a commodity at the Brexit table.

I love England and I have raised my family here. My kids are British. I have never had any problem or felt discriminated against, but since Brexit, I’ve started to feel like a second class citizen just because of my accent. I have been attacked on social media and what makes me even more angry is that my kids are being affected.

A year ago my 14 years old son asked me if I was going to be forced to go back to Spain if Brexit goes ahead and a year on I still have no answer. My daughter, aged 11, came home crying from school the other day and when I asked her why she told me that another child told her that I was not welcome in the UK and that I would be thrown out very soon. My daughter was heartbroken and asked me if that was true. I could not in all honesty say no!

Is it right that my daughter doesn’t want to go on holidays to Spain this year to see her grandparents because she fears I will not be able to come back?

Brexit is not only affecting nurses already here. Applications from EU nurses wanting to come here have plummeted by 90%. The UK is no longer the first choice for EU nurses looking for a job. Also many of my colleagues who have been here less than five years are starting to leave because of the uncertain future.

I know that NHS England has told us not to panic, but for how long must our lives and futures be on hold? The current situation is unacceptable. We are people with feelings not ‘negotiating capital’. The UK is our home and the government must guarantee the rights of EU nationals in the UK immediately and not, as has been hinted, at some distant point in the future.

Vague assurances are not enough. Our lives have been put in limbo since Brexit. We are facing an uncertain and bleak future in the wake of the referendum result and the anguish and ongoing stress that this is causing to individuals and families is immense.

We came to the UK in good faith and we have made our home and our lives here. We contribute on every level and in every sector of British society. Many EU nationals are already severely affected by the current Home Office stance and families are being torn apart.

When this country is so short of nurses we cannot afford to put people off in this way. 17 years ago, I was warmly invited to build my life here. I was told it was my home from home. I was told I could settle down, marry a Brit and make my life here. Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from. Things are getting so bad that many of my fellow EU citizens hardly dare to speak their own language on the streets for fear of being insulted or attacked. Our very own identity is being challenged, our future, our life. Diversity is what makes a society prosper. I was born in Spain but lived most of my adulthood life in Britain.

I am British! Diversity is what made Britain so special, what has made Britain great: its soft power, a mixture of charm, tolerance, creative spirit and openness. Immigrants are not the problem, Xenophobia is. We need to stop this madness. As Jo Cox once said we have more things in common.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/joan-pons-laplana/brexit-nhs_b_14876380.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

by Ben Reilly Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:11 am

That is just sad. We need, as the grown-ups, to reclaim the world from these simplistic, child-like idiots. Or, maybe, we need to teach them. I used to assume everybody knew what I know; these days I'm not so sure.

by Guest Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:17 am

Ben Reilly wrote:That is just sad. We need, as the grown-ups, to reclaim the world from these simplistic, child-like idiots. Or, maybe, we need to teach them. I used to assume everybody knew what I know; these days I'm not so sure.

The way forward is with reason, to combat and dispel hate.
More of these voices need to be heard, to show how people are being made to feel living in the UK.

by veya_victaous Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:46 pm

Reason has failed. that is why brexit and trump has occurred

Good people need to start treating these idiots so willing to join a Nazi like ideology as what the idiots want to be, Nazis.
we should not make the same mistakes as the French and British in the years prior to WW2 and let them ferment into am actual threat to western civilization.

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:07 pm

I don't think this is the case - nobody cares where a person comes from and think this story is exaggerated and just playing the race card .

There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently .

by veya_victaous Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:11 pm

Children see the abuse of foreigners that people like tommy post and emulate it to the face of other kids.
this is not rocket science and most definitely happens way too often because we have way too many idiots. the news shows BNP etc marching displaying their hate of foreigners.

And of course the massive upheaval of the legal situation between UK and the EU may have the consequence of people going on holidays and not being able to return.. this just happened to many Muslim Americans with that idiot Donald Trump.

And even British kids will see Local morons saying how 'Trump is good' and see that inherent hatred local morons have for them and their 'foreign', 'first gen' or 'part caste' status.

the re-emergence of ultra nationalist Nazi ideals has become too common in western nations. children are been raised to hate, which means other kids are on the receiving end of racist's hatred they have instilled in their children.

by Tommy Monk Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:07 pm

Re the op... surely the writer has obtained British citizenship by now after being here 17 years, marrying a Brit, working in the nhs all this time and having two British born teenage children here...!?

Or maybe the op is all just more made up guff by the huff and puff....!?

lol!

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:10 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:Re the op... surely the writer has obtained British citizenship by now after being here 17 years, marrying a Brit, working in the nhs all this time and having two British born teenage children here...!?

Or maybe the op is all just more made up guff by the huff and puff....!?

Why would he?
If he an EU passport?

by Tommy Monk Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:19 pm

"...Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from. Things are getting so bad that many of my fellow EU citizens hardly dare to speak their own language on the streets for fear of being insulted or attacked..."

Load of bollocks!!!

Huff and puff guff!!!

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:24 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:"...Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from. Things are getting so bad that many of my fellow EU citizens hardly dare to speak their own language on the streets for fear of being insulted or attacked..."

Load of bollocks!!!

Huff and puff guff!!!

Again, why would he need to obtain having an EU passport?
With Brexit, his passport, will certainly make him feel like a foreigner, where before with an EU passport, he was treated like a European welcome within the British EU membership

by Tommy Monk Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:27 pm

We are still in the eu... nothing has changed...

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:31 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:We are still in the eu... nothing has changed...

The people have voted to leave, hence why when article 50 is enacted, the process to leave will have begun.
So already he is feeling like a foreigner, as its a matter of time before Brexit happens

by Tommy Monk Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:39 pm

If he is Spanish and not British then he will be as much a foreigner as he always has been...

No change...

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:40 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:If he is Spanish and not British then he will be as much a foreigner as he always has been...

No change...

Even though he has contributed to the British systems for many years.

Yeah, there is no change in your prejudice views, that is for sure

by Tommy Monk Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:42 pm

Did a bit of work but cost the country more in tax credits and cost of school places...

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:43 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:Did a bit of work but cost the country more in tax credits and cost of school places...

Actually the other way round, he paid more into the system, than got out of it.

Far more than those born here.

by Tommy Monk Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:51 pm

Really...?

How do you work that out...?

How much tax do you think a nurse pays in a year...?

While school places are £6000 a year each and tax credits + child benefit would amount to over £10000 a year on top...!?

Then add on all the other associated costs to public services etc...

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:53 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:Really...?

How do you work that out...?

How much tax do you think a nurse pays in a year...?

While school places are £6000 a year each and tax credits + child benefit would amount to over £10000 a year on top...!?

Then add on all the other associated costs to public services etc...

Easily, based off how much he has given into the system, caring for people.
How much has he cost the system, considering he never went to school here?
So again that first part of his life was a cost to his own country, not the UK.
That means those born here like I said, cost far more to the system, than he does in the years he has been here.

by Raggamuffin Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:23 am

Tommy Monk wrote:"...Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from. Things are getting so bad that many of my fellow EU citizens hardly dare to speak their own language on the streets for fear of being insulted or attacked..."

Load of bollocks!!!

Huff and puff guff!!!

Their own language? So this person is saying they are "foreigners" then.

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:25 am

Raggamuffin wrote:
Tommy Monk wrote:"...Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from. Things are getting so bad that many of my fellow EU citizens hardly dare to speak their own language on the streets for fear of being insulted or attacked..."

Load of bollocks!!!

Huff and puff guff!!!

Their own language? So this person is saying they are "foreigners" then.

Where does he say that?

"Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from."

by Raggamuffin Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:30 am

Thorin wrote:
Raggamuffin wrote:

Their own language? So this person is saying they are "foreigners" then.

Where does he say that?

"Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from."

He's implying that he is a foreigner, along with others, by talking about "their own language".

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:39 am

Raggamuffin wrote:
Thorin wrote:

Where does he say that?

"Yet today I am told I’m a foreigner and should go back where I come from."

He's implying that he is a foreigner, along with others, by talking about "their own language".

No he is not, he is saying he is in fear of speaking the language he was brought up with, for fear of being insulted or attacked, since Brexit.

by Raggamuffin Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:02 am

Well if someone is speaking a "foreign" language, of course they'll be seen as a "foreigner".

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:04 am

Raggamuffin wrote:Well if someone is speaking a "foreign" language, of course they'll be seen as a "foreigner".

Really?
So a child who is born here and speaks multiple languages, will be seen as foreign?
Or an adult?
How exactly?
So any Welsh, speaking Gaelic are foreign to you?

by 'Wolfie Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:12 am

Vicar of Dibley (vod) wrote:
I don't think this is the case - nobody cares where a person comes from and think this story is exaggerated and just playing the race card .

There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently .

Garbage...

Do you live in a cave ???

You really should get out more often !

by JulesV Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:28 pm

Vicar of Dibley (vod) wrote:I don't think this is the case - nobody cares where a person comes from and think this story is exaggerated and just playing the race card .

There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently .

What a bizzare thing to say on a forum. Shocked

You profess to know how all these coloured people feel??? How do you know?

1.Are you the union leader of nurses and midwives? - the official representative whom they all go to with their problems?
2. Or do you socialise with these people, go out drinking and dining with them on nights out - cos only in that relaxed atmosphere will they let it be known what is truly in their hearts.
3. Or do you have one of those kindly, approachable faces which makes even complete strangers run up to you and tell you all their problems?
4. Or are you simply psychic?

scratch

by Tommy Monk Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:01 pm

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:
Vicar of Dibley (vod) wrote:
I don't think this is the case - nobody cares where a person comes from and think this story is exaggerated and just playing the race card .

There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently .

Garbage...

Do you live in a cave ???

You really should get out more often !

Fleakeeper... have you ever been to the UK...!?

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:05 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:
WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Garbage...

Do you live in a cave ???

You really should get out more often !

Fleakeeper... have you ever been to the UK...!?

Misdirection, as what relevance does that have to the points Wolf made in getting out more?

by Tommy Monk Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:11 pm

It was a reply to this from vod...

"...There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently..."

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:18 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:It was a reply to this from vod...

"...There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently..."

Well has she met 7,993,480 of the foreign born population in this country?
Do you think she clearly has not even met no more than 50?
She would need to seriously get out more to gain a perspective on that amount of foreign born people, dont you think?
Considering its well known that Dibs is a stay at home mum, how on earth would she know people in work and foreign, in great numbers?
So its hardly surprising she has not met many at all. I doubt she has met many foreigners in work full stop.,

by Tommy Monk Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:41 pm

I was asking fleakeeper to clarify his actual real life experience of what happens here in uk...

Firstly by asking if he has actually ever been here in the country...

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:44 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:I was asking fleakeeper to clarify his actual real life experience of what happens here in uk...

Firstly by asking if he has actually ever been here in the country...

He did not need to when questioning the claims of someone else.
Please explain why he would need to live here. To then question why Dibs would not have any real clue onto what many foreigners feel like since Brexit?
She has been largely a stay at home mum and even more clearly would not know more than 50-100 foreigners.
So what relevance would your question have in his reply to Dibs?
Zero

by Tommy Monk Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:51 pm

Don't be ridiculous...!

If fleakeeper has never been to the UK then his opinion on the reality here is completely imaginary and irrelevant.

by Guest Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:53 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:Don't be ridiculous...!

If fleakeeper has never been to the UK then his opinion on the reality here is completely imaginary and irrelevant.

How is it ridiculous to challenge a claim made by someone who clearly has not even met a minuscule amount of foreign workers here?
Why would you need to even live or visit here to ask that question?
Especially, when the article itself shows that there are foreigners who feel this way here.

Take your time

by Tommy Monk Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:00 am

I was challenging someone who has not met any workers here... fleakeeper!!!

As I doubt he has ever even been here in uk!!!

So by that basis... knows nothing!!!

by Guest Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:04 am

Tommy Monk wrote:I was challenging someone who has not met any workers here... fleakeeper!!!

As I doubt he has ever even been here in uk!!!

So by that basis... knows nothing!!!

Again why would he need to?
He never made the claim, Dibs did.
She claimed she has not met any foreign worker that has complained.
Considering Dibs is very open about her life, which is commendable and honest, the pool of foreign people she would know, would be extremely small.
So how would someone not born here, need to live here to question her claim?
How then would it be wrong to ask that person to get out more here, to then properly gauge the view of foreigners living here working?

Considering, its evident, she will not have even met many foreigners?

Take your time

by JulesV Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:05 am

Thorin wrote:
Tommy Monk wrote:It was a reply to this from vod...

"...There are so many foreign workers here in the uk its just as it is and I've never found any of them feel they are treated differently..."

Well has she met 7,993,480 of the foreign born population in this country?
Do you think she clearly has not even met no more than 50?
She would need to seriously get out more to gain a perspective on that amount of foreign born people, dont you think?
Considering its well known that Dibs is a stay at home mum, how on earth would she know people in work and foreign, in great numbers?
So its hardly surprising she has not met many at all. I doubt she has met many foreigners in work full stop.,

Actually I don't know her, or anything about her whatsoever. I was completely new to the Newsfix community when I joined a few moths ago and I still don't know many of the members.

But my questions to her are valid. Truly astonished that she can presume to speak on behalf of so many people. Besides, a nurse would try to look professional at all times, it's part of her training. She would not go around telling people that she was fed up or felt treated differently.

So how would anyone know what is in the nurse's heart?? Let alone what's in the heart of tens of thousands???? A reasonable question, I feel.

by Guest Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:10 am

Jules wrote:
Thorin wrote:

Well has she met 7,993,480 of the foreign born population in this country?
Do you think she clearly has not even met no more than 50?
She would need to seriously get out more to gain a perspective on that amount of foreign born people, dont you think?
Considering its well known that Dibs is a stay at home mum, how on earth would she know people in work and foreign, in great numbers?
So its hardly surprising she has not met many at all. I doubt she has met many foreigners in work full stop.,

Actually I don't know her, or anything about her whatsoever. I was completely new to the Newsfix community when I joined a few moths ago and I still don't know many of the members.

But my questions to her are valid. Truly astonished that she can presume to speak on behalf of so many people. Besides, a nurse would try to look professional at all times, it's part of her training. She would not go around telling people that she was fed up or felt treated differently.

So how would anyone know what is in the nurse's heart?? Let alone what's in the heart of tens of thousands???? A reasonable question, I feel.

Sorry Jules, but I did not even read your reply here towards Dibs on this until you replied.
My point was on Wolf and what he said
Just read your views and they are also valid

by Tommy Monk Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:11 am

Vod is British... with years of experience living here in Britain...

Fleakeeper is not... and as far as I am aware, has never been here in Britain.

I think that speaks for itself...

Nighty night dodge!

by Guest Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:14 am

Tommy Monk wrote:
Vod is British... with years of experience living here in Britain...

Fleakeeper is not... and as far as I am aware, has never been here in Britain.

I think that speaks for itself...

Nighty night dodge!

Again, Vod made a claim on foreign working people
Is it not irrelevant to know how many she would know?
Considering, I know, for the most part, she has been a stay at home Mum.
Not even knocking that, as she will, know.
What is questionable, is whether her views on how many she knows, is quantifiable to the majority of foreigners and how they feel after Brexit.
For example, if she knows 10 out of 7 million. Is her view a fair perspective of foreign people and how they feel after Brexit?

by Tommy Monk Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:16 am

Fleakeeper still knows nothing having never been to uk!

Laughing

by Guest Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:19 am

Tommy Monk wrote:Fleakeeper still knows nothing having never been to uk!

Again why would he need to? When he rightly question a claim from a poster on the amount of foreigners she knows in the uk?

Laughing

by JulesV Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:23 am

Thorin wrote:
Jules wrote:

Actually I don't know her, or anything about her whatsoever. I was completely new to the Newsfix community when I joined a few moths ago and I still don't know many of the members.

But my questions to her are valid. Truly astonished that she can presume to speak on behalf of so many people. Besides, a nurse would try to look professional at all times, it's part of her training. She would not go around telling people that she was fed up or felt treated differently.

So how would anyone know what is in the nurse's heart?? Let alone what's in the heart of tens of thousands???? A reasonable question, I feel.

Sorry Jules, but I did not even read your reply here towards Dibs on this until you replied.
My point was on Wolf and what he said
Just read your views and they are also valid

It's OK Thorin. You don't have to apologise. I was just clarifying that I don't know VOD from Adam.

I feel that the only way anyone could claim what she claimed was if she had mixed with a huge number of them and heard them speaking directly from their hearts. Otherwise there is NO way of knowing.

Also her saying that "no one" cares where these NHS workers come from is wrong. Some people do care about factors like that. On this forum alone, I have seen someone complain about having to endure foreign nurses. So that statement is outright wrong also. I did not think it was possible to see so many sweeping generalisations in ONE post. But hey ho, there you go. Godnight Thorin. x

by Guest Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:24 am

Jules wrote:
Thorin wrote:

Sorry Jules, but I did not even read your reply here towards Dibs on this until you replied.
My point was on Wolf and what he said
Just read your views and they are also valid

It's OK Thorin. You don't have to apologise. I was just clarifying that I don't know VOD from Adam.

I feel that the only way anyone could claim what she claimed was if she had mixed with a huge number of them and heard them speaking directly from their hearts. Otherwise there is NO way of knowing.

Also her saying that "no one" cares where these NHS workers come from is wrong. Some people do care about factirs like that. On this forum alone, I have seen people complain about having to endure freign nurses. So that statement is outright wrong also. I did not think it was possible to see so many sweeping generalisations in ONE post. But hey ho, there you go. Godnight Thorin. x

Thanks Jules and agree with you.

All the best

Night

by JulesV Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:25 am

Goodnight Thorin. x

by HoratioTarr Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:38 am

Was anybody kicking up all this 'alienation' stuff before we joined the EU? The British Nationality Act 1948 allowed the 800 million subjects in the British Empire to live and work in the United Kingdom without needing a visa. Where was all the breast clutching then? Anyone would think that the EU alone has facilitated immigration to the UK. It hasn't. We've had immigration going on for decades. This 'bleeding heart' speech seems to be yet another media attention seeking load of bollocks.

by Guest Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:45 am

HoratioTarr wrote:Was anybody kicking up all this 'alienation' stuff before we joined the EU? The British Nationality Act 1948 allowed the 800 million subjects in the British Empire to live and work in the United Kingdom without needing a visa. Where was all the breast clutching then? Anyone would think that the EU alone has facilitated immigration to the UK. It hasn't. We've had immigration going on for decades. This 'bleeding heart' speech seems to be yet another media attention seeking load of bollocks.

Plenty of people have always kicked up a fuss about immigration to this country, it started in the 1950's, but this is about where people do not need to even become British citizens, because they are part of the EU
So you are talking at something completely different. The reality is though many since Brexit, have been made to feel not welcome, just like previously all the way back to the 1950's with any immigrants.
As EU citizens, they do not have to become British citizens and today, the Government is going to ensure that those EU citizens with have their rights protected. So clearly they disagree with you.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/eu-citizens-rights-uk-brexit-hope-house-of-lords-cross-party-meaningful-vote-bowness-hannay_uk_58aebb9fe4b057efdce92fe6?utm_hp_ref=uk

by nicko Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:53 am

I am sorry to disagree with posters, but in my opinion anyone who does not live here can only know what is happening through the Media' and the Media is not always truthful.

by The Devil, You Know Fri Feb 24, 2017 11:57 am

veya_victaous wrote:Reason has failed. that is why brexit and trump has occurred

Good people need to start treating these idiots so willing to join a Nazi like ideology as what the idiots want to be, Nazis.
we should not make the same mistakes as the French and British in the years prior to WW2 and let them ferment into am actual threat to western civilization.

both occurred because the people were fed up with the illiberals constantly putting them down.
It is likely to happen in france and holland next.

by The Devil, You Know Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:01 pm

veya_victaous wrote:Children see the abuse of foreigners that people like tommy post and emulate it to the face of other kids.
this is not rocket science and most definitely happens way too often because we have way too many idiots. the news shows BNP etc marching displaying their hate of foreigners.

And of course the massive upheaval of the legal situation between UK and the EU may have the consequence of people going on holidays and not being able to return.. this just happened to many Muslim Americans with that idiot Donald Trump.

And even British kids will see Local morons saying how 'Trump is good' and see that inherent hatred local morons have for them and their 'foreign', 'first gen' or 'part caste' status.

the re-emergence of ultra nationalist Nazi ideals has become too common in western nations. children are been raised to hate, which means other kids are on the receiving end of racist's hatred they have instilled in their children.

you seem to think that before the EU people never went on holiday to europe or even worked there or lived there.
little will really change in that respect. those going on holiday will fill in the required forms and go on holiday. those wanting to there will get the necessary permits and work there, those wanting to live there will get the required residence permits and they will be able to live there. the same will apply to those wanting to come to the uk.
the only difference will be those who just want to come and take out of the system will find that cash cow has shrunk somewhat.

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