Delivering with dignity

A framework for strengthening commissioning and provision of healthcare services for people seeking asylum.

Our report, Delivering with dignity: A framework for strengthening commissioning and provision of healthcare services for people seeking asylum, finds that people seeking asylum in England often have complex health needs and yet face significant barriers to accessing timely, quality, and appropriate healthcare.

This report sets out a framework of good practice to remove these barriers and ensure people can access the healthcare that they are entitled to.

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Download icon Download the report (PDF)

Arrow icon The barriers people face

Arrow icon The framework

 

The barriers people face

Issues raised include:

  • a lack of translation services and difficulty communicating with health care staff
  • lack of understanding regarding entitlements and location of primary health services
  • digital exclusion
  • discrimination in healthcare settings
  • experiences of destitution restricting the ability to travel to appointments
  • a lack of training or guidance on how to navigate healthcare services in England. 

 

The framework 

The framework contains five pillars of good practice to thematically categorise recommendations across three different ‘levels’ of the health and asylum systems: commissioning of services, service provision, and national policy.  

  1. Working in partnership 
  2. Upskilling the workforce
  3. Valuing lived experience 
  4. Maximising data for action
  5. Strengthening pathways to care.  

 

This framework contains good practice for:

  • strengthening commissioning and provision of healthcare for people seeking asylum in England at a local level
  •  policy making to better enable this at a national level, to ensure that people seeking asylum can access services equitably. 

 

The research was produced in collaboration with three peer researchers with lived experience of seeking asylum, alongside the St George’s Hospital Migrant Health Research Group.

They worked with a working group with representatives from local authorities, healthcare providers and six different Integrated Care Boards; and designed and facilitated workshop discussions with 60 participants with lived or professional experience of the asylum system. 

Read the report for the recommendations on how these five pillars of good practice can be delivered. 

 

Contact

For more information, please contact Emma Cookson at emmacookson@redcross.org.uk