Modern slavery: identifying victims in general practice.

Abstract

It is estimated that worldwide 40.3 million people are trapped in modern slavery,1 approximately 11 700 in the UK.2 From January to March 2018, 1631 potential victims of modern slavery were submitted to the UK National Referral Mechanism (NRM): 678 females (>42%), 952 males (58%), one transgender (<1%), 920 (56%) adults and 711 (44%) children.3 NHS England reports one in eight NHS staff think they have seen a victim of trafficking in their clinical practice and one in five victims of modern slavery report coming into contact with healthcare services during the time they were trafficked.4 Modern slavery is a gross infringement of an individual’s human rights and recognised as a crime by the international community. It is an umbrella term which includes slavery, human trafficking, domestic servitude, and labour exploitation. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 states that an offence …