NHS giving asylum seekers priority care to 'address inequalities' as waiting lists pile up
4 January 2025, 08:51
NHS hospitals are giving priority care to asylum seekers and other vulnerable patients as the service grapples with skyrocketing waiting times, it has been revealed.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Up to six million Brits are currently waiting to receive care. In some cases it can take up to 18 weeks for them to see a GP.
But a special category of patients needing an “urgent” assessment can ask for an appointment at A&E under a scheme known as 987 Inclusion Health. Those in this category include undocumented migrants.
Under the scheme, they can be pushed up the queue when they arrive at hospital and taken straight to a consultant for further evaluation.
The scheme is aimed at patients who might otherwise find it difficult to attend A&E due to the long delays waiting to be seen.
It is in place across University College London Hospitals (UCLH).
As well as undocumented migrants, members of the public who are homeless, use or have used class A drugs, and struggle with persistent alcohol misuse, are also eligible.
It is just one of multiple initiatives that have been rolled out across the UK offering migrants faster access to healthcare.
At a Stoke-on-Trent hospital, a team of NHS staff has been set up to “help failed asylum seekers, many of whom are homeless and destitute with no recourse to public funds”, The Telegraph reports.
These services have reportedly been made available due to as experts say migrants would be unlikely to sign up to doctors or dentists surgeries due to a lack of understanding with how the system works even though they are entitled to register with GPs and receive free primary care services in England, Wales and Scotland.
The same goes for all other patients no matter what their immigration status is.
NHS England has argued that its priority schemes will help the government meet its target of slashing health inequality and improving life expectancy by 2035.
A spokesperson told The Telegraph that vulnerable migrants and refugees make up significant parts of its “inclusion health groups”.
They added that the NHS was “legally required to provide healthcare services to asylum seekers and migrants which are free at the point of use”, saying it has “a legal duty to address inequalities in access to NHS services”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said during his general election campaign that he wants to create an NHS that is "there for everyone".
He vowed to focus on reducing treatment backlogs and create an additional 40,000 appointments, scans and operations each week during evenings and weekends.
Meanwhile in August, the numbers of migrants successfully claiming asylum reached the highest levels since records began, according to Home Office statistics.
Figures showed 67,978 asylum seekers were granted refugee status in the year to June - more than three times the amount in the year prior when 21,436 claims were granted.
Last month, LBC reported that hundreds of desperate asylum seekers are trying to “escape” the UK for France beneath lorries and on makeshift rafts after being left in limbo by British authorities.
A French interior ministry source said the authorities have been battling a new wave of “reverse migration”, with 300 people entering France illegally from the UK in the last year alone.
The true number, however, could be far higher as this figure only includes those who were discovered by authorities.The Home Office admitted it did not know how many people were leaving the UK for third countries illegally each year.
