The government is currently considering charging failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants for NHS primary health care. A number of civil society organisations are concerned that such charges could prevent vulnerable people, including pregnant women and children, from accessing vital treatment. A briefing paper explaining the proposed changes and their potential impact can be downloaded
Theme: Sport
Medical Justice launch party
The fun was definitely put into fundraising at the launch party of campaigning charity Medical Justice at London nightclub Cargo on 3 July. Featuring a musical line-up good enough to coax even the most uncharitable of folk out on a school night, Cargo’s bare brick arches were filled with hundreds of people dancing to a
Scotland’s BME resource library
Edinburgh-based voluntary organisation Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP) has launched a national resource library for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME ) communities, supported by the Big Lottery Fund, which holds information on a variety of health and social care issues. While MECOPP works specifically to support BME carers in the Lothians, the new
National continence charity tackles under-representation
Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence (ERIC), the national charity providing information and support on childhood problems of bedwetting, daytime wetting, constipation and soiling, is anxious to extend its work within Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Around one in twelve young people in the UK are affected, but it has become apparent that
Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 1989-2010
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Kenny Peter’s inquest points to asylum failures
On 15 September, an inquest found that yet another asylum seeker had taken his life in detention. Unusually, in such cases, in addition to a self-harm verdict, the jury also listed the numerous ways in which the system, supposed to care for vulnerable detainees, had failed to do so. Kenny Peter, a 24-year-old African asylum
A day in the death of an asylum seeker
IRR News reports on the recent inquest into the death of an Ethiopian asylum seeker found hanged in September 2004, just hours after being taken to hospital by friends because he had suicidal feelings. Almost once a month in the UK, an asylum seeker, wracked with anxiety about the possibility of being returned and worn
Demands for better asylum seeker mental health care
A new report has been published by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH) on the provision of mental health services to asylum seekers and refugees in London, the most ‘vulnerable and socially excluded people in our society’. The research for the report, Unheard Voices- listening to the views of asylum seekers
Anger at overseas doctors’ permit requirement
New regulations affecting International Medical Graduates (IMGs) have been criticised by leading members of the medical profession and immigration practitioners. The NHS has developed and utilised the skills of IMGs, essentially Black doctors from Third World countries, since its inception in 1948. The arrangement between IMGs and the health service has traditionally been seen as
Matter of ‘life and death’ in Roma deportation case
A 23-year-old disabled asylum seeker is in hospital after the threat of deportation led her to self-harm. Enkeleda Berisha, known as ‘Eda’, suffers with spina bifida (SB), a spinal disease which can result in varying degrees of paralysis of the lower limbs. In addition to the physical and mobility difficulties associated with this illness, most