This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Health care for asylum seekers
24/02/2003
NHSScotland must do all it can to break down the
barriers to allow asylum seekers and refugees to access and
receive appropriate care, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm
urged today.
The Minister was attending a conference where the action
points on health and social care from the Scottish Refugee
Integration Forum Report were being discussed with health
professionals.
The report is a national action plan supporting the
integration of refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland. It
places clear responsibilities on health and social care
providers - within the statutory and voluntary sectors -
for improving service access and quality.
The Minister said:
"Support, sensitivity, structures and partnerships.
These are the key concepts that I believe should lie at the
heart of our work with asylum seekers and refugees. The
potential for benefit and progress is great on both sides
and it clearly makes economic and moral sense for Scotland
to utilise the potential of its new citizens.
"Access to good quality health care is a key element of
supporting asylum seekers. Very often asylum seekers come
with a backlog of health problems, having had little or no
medical treatment and no immunisation in their lives. Many
have mental health problems. These can be severe in those
that have faced torture or who have lost family
members.
"The Ethnic Minority Resource Centre already has work in
hand to address the other key actions identified. Today,
for example, sees us begin to raise awareness among health
and social care professionals and to document and
disseminate the lessons from the systematic and sensitive
way in which NHS Glasgow has responded to an influx of
asylum seekers.
"The tasks the Forum's report sets for us are
challenging and they won't be delivered overnight. However,
the Executive is explicit in its commitment to ensuring
that asylum seekers and refugees have access to the health
and social care services that they need.
"The key to successful integration and service provision
will be partnership working between the Executive, the
public and voluntary sectors and asylum seekers and
refugees.
"Ignorance can no longer be an excuse for inaction. That
is why we established the Ethnic Minority Resource Centre
to support NHSScotland become a culturally competent
service. The Centre is already working with NHS employers
and staff to root out institutional racism from NHSScotland
and to address issues relating to access and use of health
services.
"It is supporting NHS Boards in developing better
patient information in a wide range of languages. Its
performance monitoring role will also ensure that the
provision of services for ethnic minority groups becomes
part of the NHS's 'core business' - not an 'add on' to
existing services or part of some well-intentioned but
short-term project."
The Minister emphasised that not only providing services
but using the skills and professionalism of refugees was an
important part of improving and developing services. He
said:
"In order to provide a service that reflects the needs
of the service users, a service that is inclusive, fair and
open, we need to recruit staff who understand and
appreciate the rich tapestry that is Scotland today. We
appreciate that in order to become a world class health
service we need to recruit world class health
professionals, and that includes health professionals who
may come to Scotland as refugees.
"Not to recognise the valuable contribution they can
make to the NHS is to ignore both the benefits they can
bring and conversely the frustrations that must exist for
those highly, skilled, highly motivated professionals who
are unable to do what they do best, to practice their
profession.
Action is already underway to ensure that we recruit,
retrain if necessary, and retain these people: the people
who can help us make a difference."