Refugees Emerging-Communities, Kirklees
Download (PDF 986.69 KB)Summary of report content
The term “emerging community” is defined as people who come to the UK for social, political, cultural or economic reasons, who may potentially change the dynamics of a neighbourhood.
2,523 new migrants came to Kirklees in 2016 and 623 people were being supported as asylum seekers. Kirklees Council agreed to resettle 131 Syrian refugees as part of the resettlement programme.
Points listed below relay the information collated between Jan to Oct 2017 from a number of organisations that help migrants or deal with migrant health and wellbeing, in addition to attending meetings regarding asylum seekers or migrant-related issues.
The following issues raised:
• Mental health and the lack of information relating to children who have experienced severe trauma.
• People understanding how systems work in the UK.
• Women and children most vulnerable and voiceless migrants.
• How demographic information is collected, a missed opportunity to understand the views of people from emerging communities.
• Barriers in communication for non-English speaking communities accessing services.
• Lack of cultural awareness - beliefs and expectations contribute to feelings of mistrust, stigma, taboos and myths.
• Differences in the healthcare system from country of origin.
Conclusion:
• Good communication should be encouraged to prevent barriers to healthcare eg access to interpreters
• Staff/service provider cultural awareness training to reduce negative preconceptions and better understand service user behaviours
• Available and accessible information to understand the UK’s healthcare system
• Measures to tackle extreme financial hardship
• Targeted courses aimed at the rights of women
• Categories used to determine ethnicity
• Educate the wider British population to benefit claimant statistics to tackle negative attitudes towards migrants
• Services to employ greater diversity of people by employing different techniques to encourage people to apply for jobs and opportunities for development
• Health literacy addressed to improve health outcomes, reduce stigma and prevent the spread of disease
• Education and signposting undertaken to tackle negative health behaviours including poor nutrition, smoking, alcohol and substance abuse in migrant populations from various ethnicities and cultures
• Good communication/improved information sharing vital between agencies for both the wellbeing of the individual and health of the wider community.