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Health Services – Doctors and Dentists

Stay well: The National Health Service [NHS] for Asylum Seekers and refugees

Yes

You can see a doctor. It is free. You do not pay.

See your doctor:

If you are ill
If you are depressed
If you are crying every day

The doctor you see is called a “General Practitioner” [GP]

Choose a GP near to your home.

Here is a list of GPs in Preston:

https://www.nhs.uk/Services/Trusts/GPs/DefaultView.aspx?id=89583

Your doctor (GP) will take care of your health.

Your doctor (GP) may refer you to a specialist doctor.

Yes

You can have a chaperone (someone with you when you see the doctor).

Yes

You can have an interpreter. It is free. You do not pay.

Advice:

If you are worried you can have advice. Telephone: 111

Emergency:

Telephone 999 ONLY if a person might die or is seriously injured.

Pharmacist:

A pharmacist may be able to help you with minor illnesses.

We want to help: just ask

More information:

Here are some useful websites:

https://www.gov.uk/asylum-helplines

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-entitlements-migrant-health-guide

https://migrant.health/topics/entitlements-to-secondary-care

Asylum Help UK
Telephone: 0808 8000 630
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5.30pm

Keep Healthy:

‘Up and Active’ http://abl.upandactive.co.uk/activity-search/

Here you can join some physical activities with others and most are free: you do not have to pay.

DENTAL SERVICES FOR SANCTUARY SEEKERS IN PRESTON

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Preston City of Sanctuary

Preston City of SanctuaryThursday, May 28th, 2020 at 11:05am

Refugee Action have set up a Twitter e-action to increase the pressure on the Home Office. The action enables people to tweet a message, along with a new animation, to Priti Patel and Boris Johnson. A draft tweet is below you can use if you want to post the new animation or you are also welcome to retweet Refugee Action's post here to highlight the action:

People seeking asylum are still being forced to live on £5.39 per day during a pandemic. @pritipatel & @borisjohnson said people would get the help they need but nothing has been done. No decision = a decision not to help. Take action today https://act.refugee-action.org.uk/page/61069/tweet/1?ea.tracking.id=6orzxutw

Great if you've got time to tweet, and in any event I'll be in touch as promised below about the open letter we are planning as soon as we have news from the Government.

Tell Priti Patel - no decision is a decision not to help

I've just told the Home Office that the coronavirus crisis isn't paused while they make up their mind whether to help people seeking asylum. No decision is a decision not to help. Join me in pressuring Government to do the right thing, right now.

act.refugee-action.org.uk

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Preston City of SanctuaryThursday, May 28th, 2020 at 10:54am

No recourse to public funds set to leave tens of thousands of families destitute

Boris Johnson appears surprised to discover that many migrants can't get coronavirus help

No recourse to public funds set to leave tens of thousands of families destitute

independent.co.uk

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Preston City of SanctuaryWednesday, May 27th, 2020 at 1:21pm

Maintaining Mental Wellbeing and Resilience of Sanctuary Seekers

Wednesday 17th June 6pm – 8pm.

Mental Health and Wellbeing seminar, with Dr Jeff Morgan (NW regional City of Sanctuary co-ordinator and mental health practitioner )

Jeff will talk about how we can help ourselves cope with the pressures of living in lock-down with special reference to refugees and asylum seekers. We hope two or three local sanctuary seekers will share their experiences and there will then be a question time.

Register in advance for this meeting by clicking on this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItf--trjooH9xULToNKMW-o-rb2hdqJs0S
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
This is a Free event.
Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Time: 6.00 - 8.00 pm
Location: Online - Zoom meeting
Open to: PCoS Network and the wider Community

This awareness raising event is part of the Refugee Week (15-21 June) celebrations and have been organised by the Preston City of Sanctuary (PCoS) group. The City of Sanctuary Trustee Jeff Morgan will be the key speaker to present the importance of supporting the mental health needs of Refugees and Asylum Seekers with a focus on how these traumatic experiences have impacted on their mental wellbeing. Jeff will also present specialist and scientific recommendations to overcome the mental health issues faced by individuals who faced challenges such as the hostile environment, impact of COVID-19 on the forced migrant’s community. Current evidence suggests that individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds have been hit harder by this pandemic. This talk will include lived experience testimonials from guest speakers who will share their past journeys, give examples of resilience and also explain how COVID-19 has impacted on their lives. Discussion, questions and answers will follow.

Jeff Morgan’s Bio:

Jeff has worked with sanctuary seekers since 2006 when he trained with Freedom from Torture. He helped develop counselling facilitiesand training programmes for those seeking protection in Manchester, Salford, London, Hull and Birmingham. He also tutors at REACHE, an educational project based in Salford Royal Hospital, specifically designed for refugees who were doctors in their homelands and now wish to continue their profession in the UK.

Jeff’s background is in Occupational Medicine and Mental Health. Before retirement he worked as “company doctor” to a wide variety of industrial, commercial & service organisations in the public, private and third sectors. For several years he was also a psychiatrist in rural Gwynedd, establishing a therapeutic community in an attractive seaside location where survivors of trauma could experience intensive counselling in a relaxed & supportive setting. Jeff is a trustee on City of Sanctuary's national board and the Regional Coordinator for the North West region. He was closely involved in the development of the Health Stream and in the production of the Mental Health Resource Pack.

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Preston City of SanctuaryTuesday, May 26th, 2020 at 2:01pm

Advance notice : Refugee Week Events

During the Lockdown Preston City of Sanctuary core group has been meeting by zoom and has been thinking of ways we can organize events to mark Refugee Week 2020 which runs from 15th to 21st June. Of course all these activities will need to be online rather than face to face.

We would like to announce two sessions which will take place via Zoom and also be streamed live on our Facebook page. We will send out a reminder and the Eventbrite registration and Zoom links nearer the time.

Monday 15th June 6pm -8pm. Preston City of Sanctuary Full network meeting: Join us by Zoom for a catch up session so we can talk about our recent lives as sanctuary seekers and organisations and explore resources, needs and opportunities as we come out of lockdown in the next few months.

Wednesday 17th June 6pm – 8pm. Mental Health and Wellbeing seminar, with Dr Jeff Morgan (NW regional City of Sanctuary co-ordinator and mental health practitioner ) Jeff will talk about how we can help ourselves cope with the pressures of living in lockdown with special reference to refugees and asylum seekers. We hope two or three local sanctuary seekers will share their experiences and there will then be a question time.

Finally we are developing a multimedia project Covid Memories: Looking at the Virus Through the Eyes of Children and Young People. We will be sending out details of this as soon as they are available.

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Preston City of SanctuarySunday, May 24th, 2020 at 6:31am

https://www.facebook.com/1498140007174389/posts/2662000224121689/

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Preston City of SanctuaryTuesday, May 12th, 2020 at 10:06am

Please see below a number of updates from Asylum Matters relating to Covid-19 and its impact on asylum and migration, including:

1. Ongoing advocacy

2. Home Office and Government developments

3. Resources

1. Ongoing advocacy

Updates on the campaign to raise asylum support rates
There’s been plenty of media coverage of the ongoing campaign to raise asylum support rates. Last week, Refugee Action published a piece on politics.co.uk outlining the case for change, the campaign was covered on the Victoria Derbyshire show and a number of organisations spoke to the Independent about a pending legal challenge relating to asylum support rates during COVID-19.

Yvette Cooper MP, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, also raised the issue of low asylum support rates in the committee session on Thursday May 7th. You can see a clip of her comments on the issue here, and download a version to share here.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to keep up the pressure. We are still encouraging individuals and organisations to write to your MP calling for an emergency uplift of £20 in asylum support rates, as well as bringing asylum support rates back in line with mainstream benefits.

Want to show your support on social media? Here’s a couple of draft tweets:

Could you do a week’s food shop with just £23 in your pocket? Limited funds and rising costs due to #Coronavirus has made food poverty worse for those seeking #asylum. Write to your MP to call on the @ukhomeoffice to raise support levels now https://act.refugee-action.org.uk/page/59805/action/1

Could you entertain your children in lockdown with just a slate and some chalk? Support levels for people seeking #asylum makes it impossible to support children’s development. Write to your MP to call on the @ukhomeoffice to raise support levels now https://act.refugee-action.org.uk/page/59805/action/1

(The figures for food budgeting and resources for children's educational activities have been taken from the Home Office's most recent review of asylum support rates, where they calculate how much people seeking asylum need to meet their essential living needs.)

If you’re interested in getting more involved in the campaign, please get in touch with Emma Birks (emma@asylummatters.org)

Home Affairs Select Committee session on asylum accommodation
On Thursday May 7th, as part of its ongoing inquiry into Home Office preparedness for Covid-19, the Home Affairs Committee held an oral evidence session on conditions in asylum accommodation and detention. Issues highlighted included the continued practice of enforced room sharing, low asylum support rates and their impact on residents’ ability to follow social distancing rules and the lack of public health oversight of asylum accommodation.

Asylum Matters submitted evidence ahead of the session with input from partners around the UK, which you can read in full here, alongside evidence from local authorities and other stakeholders.

You can read Asylum Matters’ twitter thread on the session here, and you can watch the session here.

High Court ruling on NRPF conditions for migrants on the ten-year route to settlement
In a case brought by Deighton Pierce Glynn (DPG) solicitors on behalf of an 8 year old boy and supported by the Unity Project, the High Court ruled on Thursday May 7th that No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) conditions on migrants on the ten-year route to settlement are unlawful as they breach Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment.

A detailed judgement will be published later, which will set out the steps the Home Office must take to comply with the ruling. However, you can read DPG’s statement on the case here and coverage in the Guardian here.

Advocacy initiatives from across our networks:

> Open letter to the Home Secretary from Refugee Council
Refugee Council is calling on the Home Secretary to take further steps to protect all refugees and people seeking asylum during this crisis, including raising asylum support rates, making it possible for people to claim asylum without having to travel, and giving all people seeking asylum accommodation that is suitable for social distancing and self-isolation.

You can sign their urgent letter to the Home Secretary online, here.

> Letter to UK Government on from Migrants’ Rights Network and the Public Law Interest Centre on NPRF (England)
Migrants' Rights Network and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) have written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP, calling on him to issue formal guidance to local authorities in England making it clear that all homeless people must be supported regardless of immigration status, provide ring fenced funding to meet this need and end NRPF conditions permanently. You can read the full letter here.

> Petition for WiFi access in all Mears accommodation (Yorkshire)
South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) have a petition calling on asylum accommodation provider Mears to install wi-fi in all asylum properties, which you can sign here.

> New report: Covid-19: No safety net for migrant women
The Women’s Budget Group and Coventry Women’s Partnership have published a report on migrant women’s experiences of the pandemic, which highlights that migrant women are disproportionately represented in key worker occupations, yet are left with no rights to social security or vital services if they are unable to work because of Covid-19. You can read the report here.

> New report: Families on the front line
JCWI have published research on the effect of the minimum income requirement (MIR) on families during the Covid-19 pandemic, showing that tens of thousands of families have been left living in fear for their futures during the pandemic and beyond, due to immigration rules that split apart families based on how much they earn. You can read the report here, which recommends suspending the minimum income requirement for couples in the UK, ending NRPF conditions and repealing the MIR for all new applicants.

JCWI is asking supporters to write to your MP to ask them to call on the Home Office to ensure that no family is split up during the crisis.

2. Home Office and Government developments

Recruitment of a new ICIBI
The Home Office has begun the recruitment process for a new Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI). The role of the ICIBI is to provide independent scrutiny of the Home Office’s border and immigration functions and the current Inspector will remain in post until October 2020.

3. Resources

New translated audio guidance from Doctors of the World
Doctors of the World’s translated guidance on COVID-19, self-isolation, and how to contact the NHS are now available as audio files to download from their website.

Translated guides on Coping Strategies in Anxious Times
The Traumatic Stress Service in Bristol have created this guide to coping in anxious times, with translations in 13 languages. It is based on expertise on supporting people with trauma and includes practical advice that will be useful in the current situation.

Parenting resource
The Parenting for Lifelong Health project has produced a resource on parenting during the Covid-19 pandemic, aimed at supporting some of the most vulnerable families during this crisis. The resource is available in over 50 languages at covid19parenting.com

Hope for the young emergency fund
Hope for the young have set up an emergency fund to support young refugees or asylum seekers up to the age of 30 who are assessed as vulnerable, to help in the relief of destitution and poverty in general.

London Migration Film Festival
For those looking for something to watch during lockdown, the London Migration Film Festival has made its best films from past festivals available for free on its website.

Campaign victory on family reunion
Finally, there was good news over the weekend as the campaign to reunite families saw an agreement for 52 people to be able to come to the UK from Greece today to be reunited with their families. Congratulations to everyone who has been campaigning to secure this!

Urgently raise Asylum Support by £20 - email your MP!

People seeking asylum have to live on just £37 a week. This isn't right, especially at a time of crisis. I've emailed my MP to ask them to tell @patel4witham to raise asylum support rates urgently. Join me and #StandUpForAsylum: https://bit.ly/2y9yIlP

act.refugee-action.org.uk

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