This section is designed to gather together a variety of resources relating to health and people seeking sanctuary.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for useful resources to add by emailing [email protected]uary.org
Disclaimer: The information provided in this section is intended for guidance only. It is not a substitute for professional advice and we cannot accept any responsibility for loss occasioned as a result of any person acting or refraining from acting upon it.
Health Stream Resources
Click the image of the resource to download or click the ‘Order Resources’ button to order printed copies.
Mental Health resource pack
Click the 'Order Resources' button to order a printed copy (minimum donation £5)
Other Resources
Forrest Medico-Legal Services have a range of useful resources including How to access and use the NHS, a guide for asylum-seekers
explaining Healthcare rights (seeing a doctor or nurse; going to hospital; having tests; receiving care for your mental health; calling/using an ambulance); registering with a GP; booking a GP appointment; getting medication; the 111 service; pharmacies; help with healthcare costs. ) Available in: English; Albanian; Arabic; Farsi (Iranian); Kurdish (Sorani); Tigrinya
Patients not Passports is a campaign coalition that have provided a toolkit for campaigning against health care charges.
Hands Up for Our Health is a new coalition urging the UK Government to suspend the NHS charging regulations, investigate the impact of health charging and commit to improving access to all NHS services.
Doctors of the World has a brilliant Infographic on Migrant Rights to Healthcare.
For information about maternity services see also the Maternity Stream resource pages
There is also information about accessing healthcare services on our Information for Sanctuary Seekers page.
Advice on healthcare entitlements
Free advice is available to the public/professionals from Doctors of the World’s national helpline: 020 75157534 (10am to 12pm, Mon to Fri). Outside of these times e-mail: [email protected]
Maternity Action also provides free telephone advice to help women get the maternity care they need and on charging (0808 800 0041, Thurs. only 10am-12noon) & email advice at: [email protected]
The UK already charges some non-British patients, or their home countries, for most NHS secondary care (ie hospital care) after treatment. Patients who are not eligible for free care include short-term visitors, undocumented migrants, and some asylum seekers whose claims have been refused. There are already processes in place for hospitals to identify and bill these patients.
Other Links and Resources
National resource pack on refugee mental health
This City of Sanctuary resource pack in partnership with Solace and Freedom from Torture is designed to help people understand the journeys that refugees and asylum seekers have been through that put pressure on their mental health. It is an excellent induction resource and also aims to help people in frontline services such as council offices and doctor’s surgeries recognise issues and help signpost them to available support.
Mental Health Resource Pack
Solace have designed two free online courses: Understanding Refugee and Asylum Seeker Mental Health and Effective Therapeutic Support for Asylum Seekers.
Refugee Wellbeing and Mental Health This video from the Muslim Doctors Association Wellbeing Wednesdays series is a really useful educational resource providing Insights from Dr Yusuf Ciftci and Dr Niloha Rangel from Doctors of The World on their work, traumas of people seeking safety, barriers they face, long term effects & how to help wellbeing & mental health.
A psychosocial conceptualisation of refugee experiences: Involuntary loss of home, torture and trauma August 2020, Thesis by William Gomes for: Master of Arts in Refugee Care Advisor: Professor Renos Papadopoulos
General
Resource Hub – Resources for Professionals caring for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
This hub, hosted by Liverpool John Moores University, was launched to provide accessible and up-to-date information on the rights and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees for health professionals and students. It contains a wealth of information including on mental health, the needs of unaccompanied minors and access to and eligibility for health care.
Working with people seeking asylum & refuge – a helpful guide for professionals from Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust – awarded as the first Foundation Trust of Sanctuary
Learn My Way resources on health and wellbeing, including how to make doctors appointments online, order repeat prescriptions and find advice on specific health conditions
Communication
Language Interpretation: Advice and guidance on the health needs of migrant patients for healthcare practitioners – information from gov.uk about using interpreters to communicate with patients
The Refugee Phrasebook has a Medical Phrasebook with useful words and phrases in different languages (this is under development and help is needed to build some of the languages)
Exercise and Wellbeing
Problems and solutions to undertaking regular physical activity and exercise for asylum seekers
#refugeeswelcome in parks resource book (2017) and conversation club pack from the Young Foundation
A-Z
Detention
‘Locked up, locked out: health and human rights in immigration detention’ – a 2017 report from the BMA (British Medical Association)
FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)
How we care for women with FGM in Leeds Maternity Service (2014), a presentation by Sarah Bennett, Specialist Midwife
UNHCR Guidance notes on refugee claims relating to FGM (2009)
HIV / AIDS
NAT (National AIDS Trust) information on Immigration and Asylum
NAT blog on ‘3 ways the UK asylum system fails people living with HIV’
Maternity
Please see the Maternity Stream site for specialised resources relating to maternity.
Maternity Action has a Maternity Rights Advice Line for advice about rights and entitlements (0808 800 0041, Thurs. only 10am-12noon) & email advice at: [email protected]
Mental Health
Our Mental Health Resource Pack covers a range of issues relating to sanctuary seekers and mental health.
‘Mental Health Commissioning with Migrant Communities’: This manual from Mind is designed to help local decision makers, commissioners and service providers better understand and assess the needs of vulnerable migrant communities. This can lead to improved local services access and culturally sensitive support for vulnerable migrants. The manual will provide the guidance and information needed to achieve this. Sustained and meaningful engagement with service providers, migrant community members, and commissioners to improve understanding of the problems vulnerable migrants face and can lead to creative, inclusive and viable solutions.
Our section on resources relating to Women includes resources on issues specifically relating to women and the impact on their mental health.
Parenting
Resources from Parenting and Families Research Group at the University of Manchester – research on parenting experiences of Syrian refugee families to raise awareness and support refugees through various stages of flight.
- Film in collaboration with independent film-maker Hafsah Naib highlighting parents’ will and commitment to protect, engage and raise their children through war and displacement.
- Exhibition featuring drawings from children in Syria
- Leaflet, available in various languages, outlining the psychological impact as a result of war. While it is mainly targeted for parents with bite-size coping strategies and parenting advice, it would be useful for anyone who would like to gain a better understanding of the psychological impact of war.
PTSD / Memory
The Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law (CSEL) has a lot of resources (many of them very academic) relating to how people behave and respond to trauma and how this intersects with the law eg. reluctance to disclose experiences and the impact this can have on credibility assessments
Sexual Health
‘Sexual Health, asylum seekers and refugees’ is a handbook for people working with asylum seekers and refugees in England, produced by the Family Planning Association (FPA)
TB (Tuberculosis)
The toolkit is designed to be used locally to assist programme implementation by local stakeholders as well as individual providers who may be involved in any part of the process. The intended audience includes TB control boards, health and wellbeing boards, local medical councils, primary care practitioners: GPs, practice nurses, practice managers, commissioners: CCGs, local authorities, local PHE teams, TB services, local authority departments such as public health, housing, environmental health and third sector organisations working with eligible groups.
Trafficking / Modern Slavery
Modern Slavery is the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation. Individuals may be trafficked into, out of or within the UK, and they may be trafficked for a number of reasons including sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude and organ harvesting.
This online resource provides an overview of the issue of modern slavery. It is aimed at helping all healthcare staff recognise the signs that someone has been trafficked, and to take appropriate action with confidence.
UK
Patients not Passports is a campaign coalition that have provided a toolkit for campaigning against health care charges.
Hands Up for Our Health is a new coalition urging the UK Government to suspend the NHS charging regulations, investigate the impact and commit to improving access to all NHS services
Freedom from Torture provides clinical consultation and care as well as medico-legal reports for victims of torture.
Refugee Council has a Therapeutic Casework service in London and regionally.
England
Health and Social Care Map of England is a voluntary project to help share information about health, social care and third sector assets, resources and services in the community.
London
Doctors of the World runs a clinic in Bethnal Green for excluded people
Yorkshire & Humberside
Bevan Healthcare CIC is a specialist GP service for those that are homeless or seeking asylum in Bradford and Leeds
Solace is a Leeds-based charity that provides psychotherapy, complementary therapies and advocacy support to survivors of persecution and exile living in the Yorkshire and Humber region. See their Solace Papers – a series of Monographs about work undertaken by Solace therapists , in the field of mental health work with people seeking sanctuary.
General Medical Council – Registration help for Refugee Doctors
Solace have designed two free online courses: Understanding Refugee and Asylum Seeker Mental Health and Effective Therapeutic Support for Asylum Seekers.
Building Bridges programme is an NHS funded partnership for Refugee Health Professionals living in London and is made up of three organisations: RAGU, Glowing Results and the Refugee Council. .
RAGU (Refugee Assessment and Guidance Unit)– specifically provides careers advice alongside guidance and employability skills development training for all Refugee Health Professionals.
WARD (Wales Refugee and Asylum Seeker Doctors) Group – Provide similar services as REACHE and RAGU for doctors in Wales.
Bridges Programmes – Provide similar services as REACHE and RAGU for doctors in Scotland.
Reache North West was set up to help refugee health professionals in the North West register their qualifications in the UK and find work.
The Phoenix Project’s aim is to support displaced doctors and healthcare professionals in their journeys to qualifying for practice in the UK.
The Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project – supports refugee doctors back into medical practice in the UK
Investors in People and Culture promote the social and economic inclusion of asylum seekers, refugees and minority communities in North East of England through employment, education and training.
Hidden Talents is a pilot run by Growing Points which has placed refugee women in Leeds in apprenticeships as Clinical Support Workers. It was covered by the Guardian in Oct 2016.
How to find an NHS dentist in England?
How to find an NHS dentist in Wales?
How to find an NHS dentist in Scotland?
How to find an NHS dentist in Northen Ireland?
How to register with a GP in England? Here is the info
How to register with a GP in Wales? Here is the info.
How to register with a GP in Scotland? Here is the info.
How to register with a GP in Northern Ireland? Here is the info.