Hundreds of thousands won’t be vaccinated in contravention of official NHS policy
A survey by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveals that undocumented migrants that might not have proof of address or ID are being refused registration with GP surgeries, in contravention of official NHS policy, and having their options significantly limited when it comes to accessing the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism conducted a survey of more than 200 surgeries in 10 key areas across the UK. Bureau journalists asked if they could register a “friend” who was in her 40s, without immigration status, proof of address or ID.
The survey found less than a quarter of all GP surgeries (24%) would register someone without these documents.
Of the remaining, almost two-thirds (62%) said, they would not register the patient, while 14% said they were unsure if they could.
In 113 of the calls, we were able to ask surgeries whether they could suggest alternative vaccination options for our dummy patient. More than half of these surgeries told us that they either did not know any alternative options, or that our patient would not be eligible to receive the vaccine, either because they did not have an NHS number or because of their immigration status.
The callers were often given incorrect information. For example, one Luton surgery said: “She won’t be able to get vaccinated until she’s got an NHS number”. One surgery in Birmingham said: “We wouldn’t be able to administer the vaccine if she hasn’t got UK status.” Our caller to a practice in Coventry was told “Unless we’re advised otherwise, which we haven’t been until now then there’s no facility for her to be vaccinated if she’d not got an NHS number.”
Findings suggest anyone who is not signed up to a GP could encounter severe difficulties in trying to get a Covid-19 vaccine, as being unregistered removes the option of being vaccinated by a surgery and the option to book a vaccine appointment via the NHS England website or 119 helpline.
Reacting to the findings, Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London said: “While the government says vaccines are available to all, this is just an empty statement given it has clearly done very little to ensure that this is actually the case and the reality for those on the ground is clearly very different. From a public health and humanitarian perspective, this is extremely concerning.”
Dr Sally Hargreaves, a migrant healthcare and vaccination expert at St George’s University, said: “Most vaccines in the UK are delivered through primary care, and as these findings show undocumented migrants who are unable to register with a GP practice may therefore face barriers to accessing the COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines going forward.”
Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown, joint honorary secretary for the Royal College of GPs, said: “It is very important for addressing health inequalities that all patients can access general practice and if people face barriers due to a lack of awareness, sometimes because of past miscommunication, around registration eligibility rules, this needs to be addressed.”
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