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Why is Home Office responsible for medical services in detention centres - 19/12/05 |
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Written by Emma Ginn
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19 Dec 2005 : Column 2357W - Detention Centres (Medical Services)
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons his Department is responsible for the provision of medical services in detention centres for asylum seekers; and what the arrangements are for liaison with (a) the NHS and (b) the local primary care trust on such services. [36141]
Mr. McNulty: The provision of primary health care services in contracted-out immigration removal centres is an integral part of the contractual arrangements for the management and operation of those centres, for which the Home Office immigration and nationality directorate (IND) has overall responsibility.
There is regular liaison between IND and Department of Health officials over issues that will affect removal centres collectively, and removal centres and primary care trusts are being encouraged to work together to develop local protocols to improve the interface between health care services within the centres and the local NHS. |
