NON-EU nurses working in the NHS should not have to pay hundreds of pounds a year for their family members to access the health service, the Royal College of Nursing conference will hear tomorrow.

The union is calling on the government to drop the up-front fee for non-EU staff — that will double to £400 per relative later this year — which it said is tearing families apart.

The immigration health surcharge introduced in 2015 is paid by people from outside the European Economic Area who want to live in Britain for at least six months to work, study or join family.

Rates for students and those on the Youth Mobility Scheme will also increase, from £150 to £300 per year.

In a keynote address to the RCN annual conference, chief executive Janet Davies will highlight the case of Evaline Omondi, a nurse from Kenya who was asked to pay £3,600 up front to cover three years of fees for two adults and four children.

Ms Omondi, who works in Luton, had to send her youngest children, aged six and eight, back to Kenya as a result.

She remembered the introduction of the surcharge fee as “an awful moment,” saying she was forced to take out loans and left unable to meet visa and childcare costs.

“A family who came together is now in pieces, scattered all over the place,” she said.

“I try to speak to [the children] on the phone before they sleep but it is hard with the time difference and my work, so I sometimes don’t get to talk to them.”

Ms Omondi will lead a debate on the issue at the conference in Belfast.

Almost 25,000 nurses from outside the EU are working in the NHS in England, the RCN said.

“Many of the Windrush generation were our valued colleagues for many years,” Ms Davies is due to say.

“It was shocking and embarrassing to see Britain being heartless, divisive and plain old nasty.

“I say to the government today: these people keep the NHS running. They are the very last people who should ever be sent up-front invoices for healthcare — get your priorities in order.”