A specialist clinic for destitute asylum seekers and refugees in London

Abstract

We present a descriptive analysis of the last 112 patients seen at our refugee health clinic, for whom we have collected complete or close to complete sociodemographic and medical data. Sociodemographic data showed the patients to be an isolated and highly vulnerable group, with a high prevalence of untreated physical illness, in particular infectious disease, together with a high rate of mental illness. The majority of patients were survivors of torture or rape that had occurred in countries from which they had escaped. We initiated a study to examine the challenges faced by our patients. We looked in particular at the ease with which they could access health care, and at their physical and mental health. The terms refugee and asylum seeker are legal terms describing the stage in the process of asylum that a person has reached. Previous research has shown them to be an often immensely resilient, but disadvantaged and vulnerable group, who suffer with an increased incidence of physical and mental illness.1,2 Less is known about those who regularly sleep rough or ‘sofa surf,’ as they are a difficult group to reach, not least because of their fears of detainment and deportation. In many countries, from which they originate, the medical profession is complicit in their mistreatment and torture.3 The GP clinic has been running since 2007, as part of the ‘Three Boroughs Team’, (Guy’s and St Thomas’ Community Services), in South Lambeth. The clinic is held within a mainstream general practice building in Brixton, close to the Refugee Council. It is run on 2 days a week, by four part-time GPs and two case workers, and more recently a nurse, all with a specialist interest in refugee health care. Patients were referred in a number of ways: by advocates at the Refugee …