My doctor was late to my appointment because he had been at the local country hotel full of asylum seekers...

[doodiethewonderdog]

When was the last time you had a home visit? Is this a way of managing the " problem" by them taking clinics there? Is it a way of hiding this issue? I understood they did not have access to the NHS yet I see massive bags of medicine labelled for this hotel too at the dispensary. We wait about 6-7 weeks for a routine appointment.

Well there you go, your pal is contracted for half a day. She isn't doing it with a waiting room full back at the practice is she?

Time management and organisation all that is needed <granted not GPs strong points> plus adhering to whatever session they are supposed to be in.

The point was more that her working for half a day elsewhere doesn't take anything from anybody because she wouldn't be working at her surgery during that time anyway.

But I'd expect that the potential for sessions to overrun and people be waiting beyond their appointment time is no different when she's in surgery really because it isn't a perfect world in which every problem can fit neatly into a 7 minute slot.

i live somewhere with very few AS, and I can tell you the wait for a non-urgent GP appointment is definitely 4-6 weeks. Home visits are not done by the surgery GPs.

My cousin with terminal cancer did not get a home visit; she was referred to a palliative care agency (a nightmare).

Those of you getting same-day appointments for “an uncomfortable condition” or receiving home visits for e-coli - this sounds unbelievable based on my experience.

Well of course it impacts othere if she can't organise herself and patients are waiting back at the practice.
Maybe they should do these sessions in the afternoon so if they overrun due to poor time management the only person affected is the GP and if they're late off they might review things.

What do you pay yourself?

The ‘temporary accommodations’ are literally hotels (and sometimes B&Bs).
Street homelessness is a whole other problem with complex causes and so,U-turns.

Asylum seekers dont have NHS dentistry on tap either. They have to use the same NHS dentistry as the rest of us- i.e. the non existent NHS dentistry.

I think a GP needs to be professional, and honour their sessional commitments to wherever they agreed to work. That’s an issue of probity and integrity. And needs to be addressed separately.

I am employed by the NHS and treat whoever turns up to see me as a hospital consultant. Immigrant, local resident, asylum seeker, or prisoner in handcuffs. I have seen and treated them all, I don’t care where they have come from. Good job really, as we will receive more and more asylum seekers, as the rest of the world goes to pot.

I admit that I can’t bear to hear the stories of many of the asylum seekers I treat. As I find the stories quite unbearable (and believable). And the condition in some of these hotels is just dreadful, the food appalling and the risks to families from some residents really quite terrifying.

Be careful not to judge too much. There are some economic migrants faking it, but there are still many genuine asylum seekers, don’t worry. They need medical help and it would be cruel to deny them this once they are in our country. I also know we need to treat our own people. It can’t be just one group.

Your husband pays his taxes. Big woop.

They have the same free dental care as your son. There's no extra entitlement

There are some charities that might provide dental care to asylum seekers, but there's no magic government funded NHS asylum seekers dentist. Just your bog standard dentist with an NHS contract that is difficult to find

Mmmhmm. Sure.

..bloody snob looking down your nose at people

The irony. You’re the one looking down your nose at people. Just for the record, I know a family of asylum seekers who have been here for over three years. They can’t get a dentist either.

As a doctor of many years, I cannot stand other doctors taking the piss. If this doctor was indeed moonlighting, he should face censure. I was also angry at that recent story of a GP mum who faked appts to do the school run. Nope. The public trusts us to do the job we are paid for. Integrity is everything.

Then why do the hotels seem to be full of only men. Where are their families?

In one case doesn't suggest it's the norm, quite the opposite.

From Gov.uk

I certainly wouldn't expect my husband to leave me behind with the kids in a war torn situation.
Would you?

'I was also angry at that recent story of a GP mum who faked appts to do the school '

Yep but some posters on here seem to think GPs wouldn't ever take the piss.

What's the going rate for a session at an asylum centre does anyone know? We know since the GPs ditched out of hours care in the laughable 2004 contract that locums can charge thousands to cover a 111 shift. What do they get for these asylum sessions I wonder.

@wheelygoodfun Take it you've never been in an asylum hotel either. It definitely isnt 4 star luxury with the chef cooking meals off an a la carte menu. Think bunk beds in rooms originally intended for single people, mass catering using the cheapest possible ingredients. All asylum seeker food is meant to meet religious and cultural dietary needs. In practice this means that as long as the chicken nuggets are halal then thats sorted. Ever fancied chicken nuggets and chips at every meal for weeks on end?

Yes... we know...

The point is that no one in the UK gets housed for free.

@DuncinToffee Your source says 59% of asylum seekers are adult men, whereas 21% are adult women.

That's what I would expect to see. In all countries outside of the UK, men outnumber women by almost 3 to 1. That is common knowledge.

You also need to bear in mind that poverty and war are issues that only affect men. The women in those countries live in magic houses that shield them from all of those problems. So we need to ensure we are doing everything we can to help men specifically.

A member of the family will travel out to get work and get set up, so they can then send money home and get their family to safety without having to go through the illegal trafficking. Are you as a mum going to put yourself and your children in a dinghy ride they might not survive? To get trampled to death at sea in an overcrowded inflatable full of scared people? Or be unable to prevent your child being thrown overboard as people panic and start trying to make it lighter so it doesnt sink? Thats what can happen when children are trafficked across the channel. In my darkest nightmares I hope I never have to see it.

As asylum seekers like all UK residents are fully eligible to register with a GP surgery, why do you assume the visit to the asylum hotel was not a routine part of the doctor’s NHS job?

Ridiculous OP. Have some compassion and empathy (and critical thinking skills).

It’s much more effective to go there than have so many people try to travel to a GP surgery with no transport. Asylum seekers are not the route cause of problems in this country, stop trying to scape goat the vulnerable.

It is easy to sit in a place of comfort and western privilege and think like this. Less easy is to truly know what people in these countries, with neighbour turning on neighbour are actually like. When you are absolutely desperate and have to decide to head for safety, on foot across 1000s of miles, a lone male is going to get further than a man accompanied by a wife and young children. Leaving rjem, probably with wider family gives them all a chance of survival.

There are GPs, hospital doctors, nurses etc that take the piss, and those that go above and beyond, like in every profession. We need to come down on those who intentionally mislead (rather than overrun etc because of doing their job properly).

Probably either no wife and children or they were pushed off the boat to accommodate the MEN.
The citizens of my town have recently been informed that we are a "sanctuary city"
We weren't informed of this or allowed to make any objections.
In this week's news we have an illegal immigrants pissing in a children's play park, pacing up and down outside a primary school and chasing someone while brandishing 2 knives.
Last month it was one of our "HMO residents " , sited right opposite a primary school shouting Alan's snack bar as the kids were coming out of school
Great situation yeah?

Can you think of any reasons why a dangerous journey might have a different risk for men and women?

Even just a simple relatively low risk example like walking alone in UK woodland - what do you think the sex balance of people doing that would be?