CSO3 noted that GP surgeries also sometimes asked for documentation without understanding asylum seekers and refugees’ situations: “… they will ask you a lot of questions like, for example, where’s your passport? Can you show me your passport? When the person doesn’t have a passport, then they don’t know, they don’t understand” (CSO3). PB3 agreed that issues around identity documents could be a problem and that this could have knock on effects in accessing other services: “Some people also don’t have proof of ID, which then results in not being able to be registered with GPs, or as I say, their ability then to access other support as well” (PB3). PB8 noted that while access to GPs was often eventually secured there could be a delay. PB3 explained that a new system had been brought in for initially registering asylum seekers with a GP when arriving in Mears accommodation: “… the process has changed whereby each trust now are doing the registrations, so that we’re getting the information from Mears on a weekly basis... We have designated admin then to trawl through all of the details and make GP registrations. So, that’s taking up to eight weeks… we have raised it with the department, and they acknowledge that it’s not working, and we need to look at what we’re doing because it’s taking such a long period of time” (PB3). CSO9 highlighted that the delay in allocating a GP meant that many families had already moved on: “… children and families are no longer there by the time they get the GP, they’ve been moved into dispersal accommodation in a lot of cases” (CSO9). Lack of availability of services Participants mentioned the lack of availability (or inconsistency of availability) of some services to meet the needs of asylum seekers and refugees. PB2 said that current health and social care screening at the point of entry was variable and that ensuring that this took place across the board was the biggest “ask” in terms of health and social care within the Refugee Integration Strategy : “Are we doing that at this point in time? In some instance yes, in some instances no probably. But to do it effectively would require a significant financial contribution… at this point in time we’re doing it, we’re doing it very much across the region but it’s on an ad-hoc non-recurrent funded basis” (PB2). PB8 noted that there was inconsistency in the availability of the Northern Ireland New Entrants Service (only available in two trusts) and the quality of GP provision: “… the Northern Ireland New Entrant Service…. accessing GPs can be really excellent in one area, but then you go to another area, and it’s… the challenge is to do with the capacity ” (PB8). A Regional Children’s Home, providing a specialist service for unaccompanied young people, was seen as a model of good practice in terms of meeting needs, but only had limited places and the service could not meet growing demand: “[Name of Children’s Home] obviously has the eight beds. And [the Children’s Home] would have taken almost every new arrival, up until our numbers started to increase. So, you know, as I say, by the end of this year, we think we’re going to have 160 [new arrivals]…” (PB8).
PB4 noted that the situation had been better when the Housing Executive held the Home Office contract for delivery of asylum seeker accommodation. This meant that more streamlined decisions could be taken about accommodation across the journey from asylum seeker to refugee: “…typically at that stage whenever someone received a positive decision they wouldn’t have been moved on from the temporary accommodation. They could have easily remained in the accommodation and continued on with an integration journey and advance any social housing allocation” (PB4). Health Good practice in health W3 participants highlighted the Northern Ireland New Entrants (NINES) service in Belfast and Southern Health and Social Care Trusts as examples of good practice. This was a service for new entrants to Northern Ireland which provided clinics to support health and social well-being, and assisted with a number of areas including GP registration. The service was praised as being accessible and built around the needs of asylum seekers, and which brought together key professionals with knowledge and expertise. PB2 highlighted the work of the Belfast Trust as being particularly forward looking as recognized by the fact that it had recently become the first trust of sanctuary in the UK: “I think in terms of health service I would say probably the lead trust in supporting people would be Belfast Trust.... They do some amazing work” (PB2). W3 participants gave a further example of good practice being developed by the Belfast Trust, which was currently developing a card (similar in size to credit card) which will include a number of statements (in English) ‘My name is x’ /’I am X nationality’ /’I speak x language’/ ‘I have a right to interpretation services’. It may also include QR code and it is anticipated that this card could be presented by the user in medical/social service settings, education or housing settings. Registering with a GP As discussed above, issues registering and making appointments with GPs due to language barriers and lack of interpretation was a commonly discussed theme. CSO2 pointed that a further issue could relate to documentation particularly when asylum seekers did not have an Application Registration Care: “there can be a problem about people… having the documents that they need to register with a GP… when there are delays in issuing an ARC card, that can cause problems with getting people registered with a doctor. And understandably GPs like to see ARC cards” (CSO2). CSO2 gave the following example: “[There is] a young woman who is originally from Somalia but arrived here with Tanzanian documents. So, she has nothing to prove that she’s Somali. So, The Home Office, you know, we’re, kind of, in a dispute with them as to what even needs to go on the ARC card. So, she has struggled, I think with The Red Cross’s assistance they got her registered but it’s an example of who might have difficulties in registering with a doctor” (CSO2).
38 | Access to Public Services and Access to Justice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Northern Ireland
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