The impact of recent Central and Eastern European migration on the Scottish health service: A study of newspaper coverage 2004–2008

Abstract: This paper examines newspaper coverage of the impact on NHS Scotland of recent Central and Eastern European immigration. It follows rising public interest in the impacts of ‘record’ and ‘unexpected’ levels of migration after the 2004 and 2007 European Union (EU) enlargements. We reviewed reporting in six Scottish newspapers during 2004–2008 to track underlying themes within their coverage of EU migration. The framework of Social Representations Theory (SRT) was used to analyse how migration’s impact was conceptualised and explained. This research shows that portrayal of migrants posing a threat to the NHS (e.g. European staff with inadequate qualifications), has increased in frequency but changed in nature over the past 4 years. Meanwhile, reports have also portrayed themes of reassurance (e.g. NHS management control) to allay societies’ fears. The overall pattern is of representations of threat in the Scottish press being closely followed by those of reassurances. The most important reassurances relate to Scottish socioeconomic conditions, which raises questions might be seen in other UK newspapers as well as what will happen in Scotland if A8 migration decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]