HIV Patients made Prisoners

posted: 03/05/2011

NHS consultants say that security measures imposed by the UK Border Agency have turned Hillingdon hospital’s HIV clinic into a prison.
Hillingdon hospital in west London, is the nearest to Heathrow airport, and some of the people with HIV that it treats are detained at nearby immigration removal centres, who are brought to the hospital for treatment.
 

Patient cuffed to guard

The problems began when an immigration guard who had handcuffed a patient to him refused to remove the handcuffs so the man could be treated in privacy. When the guard refused to uncuff the man the doctors refused to treat him and made a formal incident report to the hospital’s medical director. That’s a serious formal complaint, and it concerns inhuman and degrading treatment.
 

Clinic windows barred - a prison for all
Officials from the UK Border Agency then fitted restraints on the windows at the hospital's sexual health clinic to ensure that detainees could not escape.
HIV specialist Ben Holden, a consultant at the hospital, said: "The unit is now a prison for us all. Our windows only open two inches but UKBA have installed chunky locks on them. We were told they would bring removable window restraints but these are permanent.
 

No attempts to escape
"No detainee has ever absconded or attempted to abscond. As doctors we believe that to keep immigration detainees restrained or locked in is discriminatory. I don't want to be part of a process that treats people in a less than human way."
Doctors are angry that immigration detainees who have committed no crime, approximately half of whom are later released, are treated in this way.
 

Deported without needed HIV drugs
An audit conducted at Hillingdon hospital also revealed that none of the detainees removed from the UK were dispatched from the UK with a full three month supply of anti-retroviral drugs (in accordance with British HIV Association / National Aids Trust guidelines). They left without an adequate tide-them-over drug supply because in many cases doctors at the hospital are not told by UKBA before people are removed from the UK. UKBA frequently cancel clinic appointments and some HIV-positive patients were removed before they were even seen at the hospital.
 

British HIV Association 'disappointed'

Professor Jane Anderson, chair of the British HIV Association, said: "BHIVA and the National Aids Trust have developed advice on appropriate HIV treatment and care for people in the immigration removal system, and we are disappointed to hear that this advice is not always being followed. We want to see the highest standards of care for everyone with HIV in the UK. Any factors that make the provision of high quality clinical care difficult give us cause for concern."
 

Emma Ginn, co-ordinator of the charity Medical Justice – which recently published Detained and Denied, a report cataloguing examples of poor medical treatment of HIV-positive detainees in the UK – said: "Along with the potentially lethal medical abuse they suffer in detention centres, detainees are suffering sub-human conditions in hospital."
 

Window bars excused
The UK Border Agency said: "We have agreed the installation of window locks for detainee treatment with Hillingdon hospital and are working with them to address the concerns now raised. Detainees are only handcuffed when absolutely necessary and they are not handcuffed during treatment.”
"The welfare of detainees is important but this must always be balanced with the security of the detainees and the public. Detainees have round-the-clock access to healthcare services to discuss their medication needs."
 

Hospital’s story
A spokesman for the Hillingdon hospitals NHS foundation trust said: "The UK Border Agency has told us that they do not believe our open ward environment is suitable for the treatment of individuals who may be failed asylum seekers and under restraint. However, a large proportion of the patients who are brought to our sexual health department by the agency are later discharged into the community and are not subject to the criminal law.
"We have agreed a temporary measure with the Border Agency to put discreet bars on windows in the unit, but we are continuing to negotiate an agreement with the agency that will offer a solution that allows us to treat all our patients with respect."
 

George House Trust would point out that Hillingdon hospital has allowed the UKBA to fit restriction devices onto its hospital clinic windows. It was under no legal obligation to treat all its sexual health clinic patients and staff in this way. And handcuffing patients is very rarely justifiable and hospitals must always consider alternatives or risk legal action under the Human Rights Act.

The NHS Constitution seems to have been ignored by the hospital - it says 

"You should always be treated with dignity and respect, in accordance with your human rights. This means, for example, that your right to privacy should be respected."

Complaining is far more difficult for people using Foundation Trusts like Hillingdon Hospital – there is no independent body to represent patients and help with complaints, Hillingdon’s website won’t even let you download its complaints leaflet and you will wait many months for the Ombudsman to deal with any complaint.
 

NHS complaints advice 
 

Source

'Inhumane' Asylum Payment Card

posted: 08/11/2010

Four leading refugee organisations criticise the Azure payment card used to pay asylum seekers because it leaves so many living in hunger and deprivation.  The Azure card problems affect people with HIV. The new report, Your inflexible friend: the cost of living without cash, shows the many problems people face when you have no cash and are given no change.
 

The Azure payment card was introduced at the end of 2009 and the card replaced the system of supermarket vouchers for asylum seekers.

The card is topped up weekly (but only with £35 income for a single person) and can be used only in certain supermarkets. You cannot get cash, be given change, and anything over £5 that you do not spend by the end of the week is taken back from you.
 

Cash-less hassle
Without cash,

• over half (56%) could not pay for travel to see their legal advisers, or attend essential health appointments (53%)
• 40% could not buy food for their dietary, religious, or cultural requirements from the allowed supermarkets, and many go hungry as a result
• 39% believed the supermarkets do not give the best value for money, and say markets or charity shops offer a better deal
• 60% had problems with the card not working, including 13 people with children
• 79% reported that the shops had refused the card
• 56% reported anxiety and shame when using the card

The findings confirm the concerns raised by the organisations when the payment card was first introduced in 2009, and that asylum seekers living on this type of support continue to live in deprivation as a result of the card.
 

Jonathan Ellis, Director of Policy and Development at the Refugee Council said: “Our evidence proves the failings of the new Azure card are forcing asylum seekers into hunger and hardship. Their survival relies on a payment system that not only hugely restricts where, when, and what they can shop for, but often does not work at all. People, often with babies and young children, are in many cases just waiting to return to their countries as soon as they can, or cannot return because it is still unsafe. They have no choice but to remain here temporarily, and are not allowed to work to support themselves. It is therefore unacceptable that they are unable to buy items that meet their basic needs, and that they have to face hostility in shops when they use these cards.
 

People need cash not plastic

The government is reviewing the asylum and immigration system and must use this opportunity to end this inhumane system now, and offer asylum seekers cash as an alternative. Though levels of support are still too low – at just £5 a day - a simple cash support system would give people the freedom to spend the money as they wished, while allowing people to live with dignity until they can return home.
 

Your inflexible friend: The cost of living without cash
 

Unlawful HIV+ Migrants Detention

posted: 19/04/2010

Two people with HIV are claiming that the Home Office (and UK Border Agency) are illegally failing to provide them with adequate HIV treatment and care while they are held in detention for months. The same solicitors who took the Department of Health to courts for charging refused asylum seekers and other migrants for their HIV treatment, Pierce Glynn, are dealing with these two cases.

HIV+ migrants detention not ' very exceptional'

Home Office guidance says that someone with a serious medical condition (like HIV) should only be detained if there are “very exceptional circumstances.” Despite this, the Home Office has failed to justify detention of either person as ‘very exceptional’. Additionally, the standard of healthcare provided in immigration removal centres falls well below that which is essential for people with a serious condition such as HIV. For both people, during many months of detention, their HIV treatments have run out several times, and they have not been taken to appointments with their HIV consultant.

These two cases illustrate the concerns raised repeatedly by HIV organisations and HIV clinicians. These Judicial Review hearings should take place in the next two months.

Released after 8 months
In a related case, the same solicitors, Pierce Glynn, obtained the release of another HIV+ detainee who was held for eight months, again with no exceptional circumstances to justify this detention. After solicitors letters threatened a judicial review, the Home Office released the person. The solicitors are now suing the Home Office for damages due to the lengthy and unnecessary detention, and their failure to provide appropriate medical care.

Source 
 

Asylum Support Section 4 Changes

posted: 13/11/2009

Important changes were made to Section Four Support on 14 October, by the UK Borders Agency. These changes are likely to cause serious difficulties for destitute asylum seekers.

On 14 October the UKBA introduced a surprise new policy for Section 4 support for people who apply for it on the grounds of making a fresh asylum claim. These changes apply immediately and may cause serious difficulties for destitute asylum seekers who are applying for support.

Read the detailed factsheet from the Asylum Support Appeals Project.