South West Migrant Health Network

The South West Migrant Health Network is a multiagency forum with membership from the NHS, OHID, public health, local authorities, third sector, frontline staff and people with lived experience.

The network’s objectives include sharing best practice, sources of data and information and provision of support to professionals working with vulnerable migrants. Tackling health inequalities, with a focus on Core20Plus5 and wider determinants of health, is a core focus of the group.

This network aims to address the ongoing problems that have been identified in the workstreams related to vulnerable migrants, including:

• limited shared resources/information and single points of reference for sharing of experiences and good practices for those working with migrants;
• lack of multiagency forum for shared discussion, raising of current and future challenges and resource sharing;
• lack of a forum for escalation of reported challenges to migrant health in the region; and
• no website or other one-stop online location for information and resources accessible to NHS staff and external stakeholders.

The Migrant Health Networks provides an opportunity for professionals working with migrants to raise concerns and receive support and advice in tackling challenges in improving the health and well-being of migrants. Some of the examples of work are:

• Improving oral health and dentistry provision for asylum seekers living in contingency accommodations.
• Sharing of multilingual resources for vaccination, immunology guidelines and the guide to the NHS. Some of the non-English languages include Arabic (for the Syrian re-settlement programme), Chinese (for the Hong Kong programme), Farsi (for Afghan refugees) and most recently Russian and Ukrainian (for those fleeing Ukraine)
• Sharing resources and examples of good practice for delivering MECC (Making Every Contact Count) interventions for asylum seekers and resettled communities both in asylum seeker accommodations and community-based health clinics.
• Research, practice and policy collaborations have been nurtured and examples have been included in research funding bids (for example a successful bid to the National Institute for Health and Care Research under the Health and Social Care Delivery research awards has enabled the co-design of a peer-led community approach to support mental health in refugees.[1]
• Creating a Future NHS workspace, where a wealth of resources to support migrant health are available.

[1] National Institute for Health and Care Research (2022). Forced to flee. Co-designing a peer-led community approach to support the mental health of refugees. London: National Institute for Health and Care Research (https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR134589, accessed 9 December 2022).