UK does too little to safeguard asylum seekers’ health

Asylum seekers’ health may actually worsen after they arrive in the UK, according to research by the BMA.

From the time asylum seekers enter this country too little is done to safeguard their health, the BMA report Asylum seekers: meeting their healthcare needs argues.

Produced by the BMA’s board of science and education, the report says asylum seekers are not routinely offered basic routine medical testing, meaning that TB may go undiagnosed, children are not given immunisations and those suffering psychological effects of torture are not referred to specialist centres.

Asylum seekers also come up against a number of barriers to accessing healthcare services, including insufficient translation services and problems with essential documentation such as exemption for charges forms, which are only printed in English and Welsh.

Many refugees are prone to particular health problems, including TB, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, as well as the physical and psychological effects of war, torture and famine.

The BMA is calling on the government to provide sufficient funding – including earmarked money for GPs – and ensure effective policies to make sure refugees’ health does not deteriorate. Physical and mental health of all asylum seekers should be assessed on arrival and appropriate treatment or referral provided, it recommends. And asylum seekers should not be held in detention centres, which may compound psychological damage and stress.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s head of science and ethics said: ‘Asylum seekers have often been subjected to persecution and possibly torture and rape. We are failing some very vulnerable people, whose health is actually deteriorating rather than improving in the safety of the UK.’