More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
NHS bosses have denied that young asylum seekers are being housed in prison-like accommodation across Kent.
More than 400 asylum seeking children, aged under 18, have travelled to UK shores this year as Kent County Council (KCC) said it could no longer take in new arrivals after reaching the authority's limit of safe capacity on August 17.
Some have been transferred into the care of other counties while Kent NHS providers continue to provide initial health assessments through face-to-face and virtual interviews to see how the children behave.
Questions about the level of health care being provided to the children were put to the governing board of Kent and Medway's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) yesterday.
The CCG's chief nursing officer Paula Wilkins staunchly defended the arrangements put in place and said: "They are not being held in cells, they are in appropriate homes.”
Dr Suzie Marsden, a Thanet GP, posed the asylum seeker question to the Kent NHS board during yesterday's three-hour virtual meeting and has pressed the health body to "challenge" political and health authorities further up the chain.
Explaining her position, she said: "If we feel vulnerable children’s best interests are not being served by the way they are being processed at present.”
The comments come 48 hours after a tragedy occurred in the English Channel after a boat carrying refugees capsized, including two children.
Around 91 unaccompanied asylum seeking children have been housed in three reception centres across the county, according to NHS data from September, while 170 young people have been transferred to other UK local authorities.
Caroline Selkirk who is the executive director of health improvement at the Kent and Medway CCG, said talks are ongoing with national bodies about upgrading digital support for asylum-seekers, wherever they are housed.
Ms Wilkins added: "If you are on these shores and need emergency care, then it is absolutely provided regardless of whether there is a house for you or not.”
The CCG also faces a backlog of "initial" health assessments for young people who arrive on county shores. Prior to the pandemic these were face-to-face but have turned virtual, with the aid of interpreters.
Dr Marsden questioned whether online exams were "appropriate" for children opening up about personal concerns, such as sleeping problems and mental health issues.
Ms Wilkins said: "Part of the assessment is done virtually and part of it done face-to-face and absolutely there are interpreters there.
"I think prior to Covid that might not be your ideal assessment, but as most of these children arrived during lockdown they have found the assessments to be quite well done, the virtual part. Most of the children are internet savvy.”
She added: "The people in the safeguarding world absolutely have the child's best interests at heart."
