Medical Justice Network - How Health Professionals Can Help Medical Justice

How Health Professionals Can Help Medical Justice

Written by Emma Ginn

By joining the Medical Justice network, health professionals can have a positive impact on the lives and health of this most vulnerable group of people in the UK.

The deprivation of liberty for immigration detainees too often results in the deprivation of their health rights. Our experience shows that many detainees have serious medical and psychological conditions which are not recognised, poorly treated or even ignored while in detention. The process of detention itself is also often very damaging to their health. By joining the Medical Justice network, health professionals including doctors, nurses, psychologists as well as medical students and others can have a positive impact on the lives and health of this most vulnerable group of people in the UK.

Photo : Dr Charmian Goldwyn briefs journalists from the Guardian at a Medical Justice press conference about her experiences of visiting vulnerable immigration detainees. The press conference launched the “Outsourcing Abuse” report analysing 300 alleged assaults, a number of which Dr. Goldwyn had written medico-legal reports on. The alleged assaults took place during the deportation process.

Visiting detainees

Medical Justice urgently needs health professionals to visit detainees in detention centres regarding various issues, including assessing scars of torture, giving advice in medical emergencies, assessing injuries following an alleged assault during the removal process. A medico-legal report (MLR) may need to be written. Visiting a detainee and writing an MLR can be time-consuming (half a day for the visit + time for writing the report) but it may make all the difference to the detainee’s health; sometimes it is literally life-saving. Legal aid funding for the health professional’s time is sometimes available from the legal firm representing the detainee - in other cases there is no funding. Medical Justice offers training in how to conduct such visits and the kinds of clinical problems you may encounter; we also operate a “buddy” system so all new visitors are accompanied on their first visits.

Medical Justice handbook for visiting independent health professionals

How You Can Help Without Having To Leave Your Desk

Those who are not in a position to visit detainees can help in other ways:

Give medical advice to detainees, solicitors, and Medical Justice volunteers by phone / email ; this could include issues surrounding denial of medication or treatment, getting test results, advice on anti-malarials, childrens' innoculations, etc. Often these are straightforward issues of provision of proper health care provision.
Give medical opinions by phone / email to others advocating on behalf of detainees ; visitors to immigration detainees, journalists, parliamentarians and organisations associated with Medical Justice. We have a network of a wide range of specialists, including Psychiatrists, HIV Physicians, Obstetricians, Paediatricians, Midwives, Psychologists and Counsellors etc, who provide advice on individual cases.
Help track down health records from GPs, other detention centres, hospitals, prisons, etc.
Help make complaints to the Home Office, the detention centre, Healthcare Commission, Ombudsman, etc. Medical Justice will advise who the most appropriate person or agency to make a complaint to.
Make a regular donation – Medical Justice depends on donations for all our work.
Invite a Medical Justice speaker to your professional or student association.
Publicise the work of Medical Justice in your professional or student association newsletter or journal.
Raising awareness of what happens in detention centers among colleagues and friends

Assessing problems on the phone
Making a complaint about the standard of care

Photo : Dr Frank Arnold and Maria Gurtova speak at a Medical Justice public meeting hosted by Diane Abbott MP in July 2008. Maria Gurtova is a nurse and has first-hand experience of detention in Yarl's Wood and Harmondsworth Immigration Removal centres. Dr Arnold visits detainees in Colnbrook, Harmondsworth and other Immigration Removal Centres.

Other ways Health Professionals and Students can help Medical Justice

Other ways you may be able to contribute include:

Fundraising and social events
Research and Audit,
Negotiating positive changes in immigration detention policy,
Advice bulletins,
Parliamentary Lobbying,
Education / awareness raising,
Training sessions,
Attending Medical Justice open meetings. These are lively and well attended and give a good idea of the work we undertake.

Further Info

Photo : Dr Helen Groom of Medical Justice Oxford in discussion with a senior Home Office manager at a public meeting about detention healthcare policies. Medical Justice Oxford focuses on detainees at Campsfield detention centre. Medical Justice has branches in London, Oxford and Kent. We offer volunteers an avenue to actively contribute in influencing policy and pratice regarding the treatment of immigration detainees.

Get Involved with specific tasks / projects

Medical Justice is involved with a wide variety of specific tasks and projects which you may feel you can contribute to.

Join in the campaigns to stop the detention of very vulnerable groups of people, i.e:

children,
victims of torture,
pregnant women,
people who are physically and mentally ill.

Further info

Medical Justice Training Days for Health Professions

Over 20 clinicians participated at the 20th September 2008 training day. The main aim of the day was to equip new clinicians with the skills and confidence to undertake medical assessments of patients detained in immigration detention centres.

Further info

Got queries or want to discuss more ?

Medical orientated queries : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
General queries : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone : Call 07904 778365 to speak to Emma Ginn, Medical Justice Co-ordinator, who will direct you to the most appropriate person within Medical Justice.

Thanks in advance for your support of vulnerable detainees.

Download this info as a leaflet

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 October 2008 )

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