Doctors of the World UK says vulnerable migrants wrongly refused access to GPs

The medical charity Doctors of the World UK reported last week that refugees and trafficking victims are among vulnerable people being wrongly turned away from GP surgeries.

You can read the brief 10-page report, Registration refused: A study on access to GP registration in England, here.

Doctors of the World UK says it found that at least two in five people attempting to register with doctor's surgeries are being wrongly refused, with the biggest barrier being people's inability to provide ID or proof of address.

Leigh Daynes, the Executive Director of Doctors of the World, said: "This report highlights a significant and serious problem. Everyone living in the UK is entitled to free primary care, GPs are our frontline defence against poor public and personal ill-health. The early detection and treatment of illness by GPs is the most cost-effective and efficient means of managing health."

Phil Murwill, manager of Doctor of the World's Bethnal Green clinic in London, said: "The people we see at the clinic who have been turned away include pregnant women, mums with children, people who have survived trafficking experiences, people suffering from PTSD-like symptoms, people who really need access timely and appropriate care. If we leave them in a vulnerable situation, their own health will deteriorate, meaning there'll be greater pressure on other parts of the NHS at a later date."

The report's key findings were as follows:

• Of the 849 attempts made by DOTW to register patients with a GP, 39% were refused.

• 31% of practices always refused GP registration and a further 16% gave inconsistent responses; sometimes they would register a patient, on other occasions they would refuse.

• The biggest barrier to GP registration was inability to provide paperwork: 39% of registration refusals were because of lack of ID; 36% because of lack of proof of address; and 13% because of immigration status.

• 23% of registration attempts were met with multiple reasons for refusal.

• Gatekeeping by reception staff is a significant barrier to GP registration; in 32% of cases the person responsible for registration was not available.

• These barriers are likely to impact on already vulnerable groups including homeless people, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, children, pregnant women, and victims of torture, trafficking, domestic and sexual violence.