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.

Who are you referring to in your personal attack?

Do you think the OP would have started a thread if their appointment was delayed because the GP visited a care home instead of an asylum seekers home?

And what are these understandable xenophobic concerns?

I would suggest that the government took on plenty of caseworkers so that their cases were carefully and fairly considered without them being left in limbo in hotels for long periods of time.
On the issue of healthcare, they are human beings, and I don't know about you, but I feel every human being should receive healthcare as required in this humane country.

Well yes, obviously 'perhaps' and 'think', because I've never been in that situation! It would depend on a multitude of different factors, and it'd be silly of me to pretend certainty.

The roll out of Jess' law across GPs surgeries lends weight to your last point. The pressure that's on GPs and the implications for patients is a talking point of concern. So long as the debate remains within respectful boundaries, the OP has every right to express her concerns. My second point is not directed at you.

I haven’t read it all so apologies if I’m repeating.

complaining they don’t work like “all the immigrants you knew did”. They are not allowed to. I work in healthcare I’ve treated many, one man was qualified in something like accounting or law ( can’t remember what but along those lines). He wasn’t allowed to work, there will be many who have valuable skills they just can’t use them.

when I see them their stories of what have happened to them are horrific, utterly shocking and tragic. They end up with awful physical deformities from torture and not being able to access healthcare when they are fleeing. They unsurprisingly usually have ptsd and other mental health issues.
prevention is better than cure, you are complaining people don’t work hard then you are complaining they access healthcare. So would you rather they sit accessing welfare due to ill health if they end up getting granted asylum.

I don’t disagree that the NHS need reform, it is a 1940s system and it’s scope has crept, we are keeping people alive longer with more complex health issues as a result, and everything is very reactive not proactive. However that’s a whole other discussion, and actually i don’t think that’s why to are here, I think you are just using the NHS as a scapegoat for to belittle asylum seekers tbh

Who knows! Maybe the OP would've. But I imagine it's because the people holding up her GP aren't UK citizens, if they're asylum seekers, and she resents that she, a UK citizen, is being inconvenienced for the sake of non-citizens. I think it's fair to find that annoying, although of course annoyance isn't a reason to deny them essential medical care.

As for valid concerns, an influx of people from a different culture will eventually impact the culture of the nation they're settling in, and if there are a large number of them or they settle in concentrated areas, that effect will be magnified. Sometimes for good, but sometimes for ill.
One example is that many of the people coming in are born and raised in cultures that are more misogynistic than the UK; that potential effect is a very negative and worrisome one.

And frankly, I don't think there's anything wrong with just wanting things to stay the way they were? I don't think being wary of immigration, or wanting to restrict it, is some kind of moral failing.

For a poor analogy: if you think of a country as a home, then mostly we're very picky about who we might allow to live our homes, and we want people who live/board in our homes to fit in with our values, and to bring something that improves our lives.

Are you saying the OP is justified in her annoyance because the GP was treating non UK citizens?

I don't really think you need to justify the emotion of annoyance?

I get annoyed when elderly people in the supermarket block the aisles and are so slow. I know they're elderly and would probably love to be able to race along, so it's not very kind of me to feel that way, but it's maddening. Why can't they just stick to one side so I can get past?

Do you think it's acceptable for people to feel concern about the fact that large influxes of people in concentrated areas might be deeply misogynistic, from nations where women's rights are abysmal, and who are unaccustomed to (or dislike) the way things are done regarding women's rights in the country they're settling in?

Yes exactly that

You mean like the aborigines in Australia? It’s a case of don’t do as I do, do as I say?

Ofcourse it is accpetable for people to show concerns, But I do think the 'might be deeply misogynistic' is very short sighted.

Being angry because the GP treated people from different countries, religion, culture is unacceptable imo

No you haven’t, I’ll also assume that you’ve never sat and spoken to someone who has been in that position?

Honestly, try it, it’s very enlightening.

I don’t want to sound condescending but I don’t think you understand the reality of living in a nearer safer country.

So for an example we can look at Syria. Most Syrians will go to Turkey, where they’ll stay in temporary settlement camps. Turkey is not a rich country, and the camps are awful places with extremely basic provisions (clean water and a tent/hut). Some don’t even have electricity. There is a lot of anti-refugee sentiment, and the government are closing camps all the time. There are currently four million refugees in Turkey.

There are also two million refugees in Lebanon, out of a total population of less than six million. Over 1 in 3 people in Lebanon are refugees - mainly Syrian followed by Palestinians. And similarly, the conditions of the camps are squalid. There is no chance of a ‘life’ there.

That is why people try to get out, quite understandably. So the next safe country is either Greece (by dinghy) or Albania (via mountains). Both are impoverished countries. They can’t afford to support millions of extra people. So when they can’t get work or shelter there, they move on. And they’ll keep going until they can make a life somewhere.

It’s not fair to expect one country to absorb them all. One phrase that really gets up my nose is “But why do they all come here? It’s for the benefits!” They don’t all come here. In fact we take very few compared to many other countries. They actually get the same benefits pretty much everywhere in Europe. But if you’re English-speaking (as a lot of the world is) and have a cousin in the UK who runs a business and can give you work, then the UK would be a more attractive prospect than going to a country where you know nobody and can’t speak the language.

On the list of countries with the most asylum seekers per capita, the UK is in 58th position.

There are those desperate to paint you as racist @doodiethewonderdog. This is why discussions are stifled. Is it people being compassionate to or virtuous? We have a right to express our disssatisfaction at public services and that includes observing what seem to be priority appointments. After just recovering from a cancer scare, I know I have become more vigilant to my own health and mortality. If that comes at the risk of being super critical and highly observant, so be it.

I see no discussions stifled?

”Seem” to be priority? Based on what? The alleged action of a doctor saying “sorry I’m late, was prioritising the immigrants down the local hotel” 🤔

The weird thing is the OP, keep saying get MN to confirm it’s true, like they can do that……..

The uk could stop selling arms to tyrants.
Governments could try and stabilise the geopolitical climate that creates asylum seekers in the first place.
We could stop listening to the racist rhetoric that demonises anyone that seeks to escape a hellscape on the other side of the world.
We could actually look at the statistics for health care provision and see rationally that the problem is a chronic lack of funding designed to cripple the NHS in favour of private health care.

Not gonna happen anytime soon though, eh?

No one is stifling ops right to be narked at having to wait 7 weeks to see her doctor, or to be disgruntled at the way the NHS is functioning. It’s the immediate suggestion that the doctor visiting asylum seekers in a hotel is the reason for it.

If she genuinely just wanted to discuss how to improve the health service there was actually no need to mention asylum seekers or put up a picture of a hotel as we all know it’s a complex beast and goes way beyond that. it’s just comes across as simply wanting to bash asylum seekers and needing a good enough reason to start a thread on it.

Strange though isnt it that they traverse through many safe countries until.they reach the Land of milk and honey 🤔

Oh, what a brilliant philosopher you are!

They don’t all traverse through many safe countries. The vast majority of them stay in those countries. Why should those countries be forced to take them all, and we shouldn’t have to take any?

This is hilarious.. you do realise thesr hotels are making a huge amount of money out of them.

Yes, when they don't belong here. Came here illegaly. Without women and children. Mostly young men. Never contributed and never will. Putting them up in hotels when we have a large homeless population as it is. Families in hostels because of the lack of housing.

The indigenous people of the county struggle to get a doctor's appointment. Waiting months for delayed life saving operations.

7M quid a day spent on housing these undocumented men in hotels. Imagine if that money way ploughed back into our services.

This country should be like a Utopia, but it's become an absolute shit hole.

Hear hear.

At least you are honest about your racist views.

Ask the doctor?