Meridian Practice in Coventry has been operating for 20 years
Established 20 years ago, it is one of the few services in the country dedicated to improving healthcare of asylum seekers and refugees.
Najeeb Waiz, practice manager at Meridian Practice told CoventryLive: “Everybody in this country whether illegal or legal is entitled to primary care, people shouldn't refuse care to people that are homeless or asylum seekers or refugees.”
"It’s a difference of culture, things could be expected and alright in some countries but they’re not okay or alright here, so we do a lot of work on FGM for example, by educating our patients who come from high risk zones.”
Meridian Practice is also an essential space that provides culturally sensitive care to those who need it the most, with bilingual staff and interpreters on hand.
Doctors, nurses and clinical staff are specially trained to deal with the healthcare issues that asylum seekers and refugees might present with.
Mr Waiz explained: “It's a young population, around more than 95 per cent is below age of 65. We have a lead GP, who’s our clinical lead as well, he has been working with Meridian for the last 13 years, his name is Dr Feroz Ahmed.
"We have two specialist practice nurses, they have been with us for almost 15 years, and then we have other GPs who work with us."
Appointments here are longer to make sure staff can pick up the wide range of issues that patients might have.
"Because of the high needs these patients have, they have more frequent appointments than the general population so that puts a lot more pressure. We say they are 4,000 patients but the frequency of their appointments is like five to six times more than the general population.
"We have 20 minute appointment times for each patient. They need time, we have to use interpreters for 90 per cent of the population, so language and cultural barriers, challenges, understanding the need.
“What we have in place is new patient checks, that is with the practice nurse, it has an appointment and then a follow up appointment, the first one is for an hour, they try to catch all the background information and family history."
Mr Waiz added: “That time is very critical to understand them as an individual as well, because of our experiences, it is not easy for them to trust anybody, that one hour gives a bigger starting point where they start developing a relationship with the service or that nurse.”
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 3:50 pm