NHS England Migrant Health

This catalogue provides training and resources to support all staff working with people newly arrived in the UK, including those seeking asylum or arriving through resettlement routes. The modules build understanding of migrant health needs and promote the delivery of accessible, culturally appropriate and sustainable services.

Resources can be used for induction, training or refresher learning and include both stand-alone modules and course-based materials. They also provide essential context on the health challenges faced by vulnerable migrants and the multi-agency partnerships that support their care across community and detained settings.

Situation

All individuals newly arriving in the UK should be offered appropriate health interventions in line with the Migrant Health Guide. This is especially important for vulnerable migrant groups, including people arriving through asylum and resettlement routes, who may have unmet physical and mental health needs stemming from experiences before, during, or after migration.

The resources in this catalogue are designed for all staff, including clinicians, service providers, commissioners and operational colleagues to improve understanding of the health needs of newly arrived migrants, particularly those more vulnerable to poor health.

As with other Inclusion Health groups, vulnerable migrants are often underrepresented in routine datasets, so additional approaches may be required to identify need and ensure that services can respond effectively.

Context

People seeking asylum, particularly those arriving via irregular routes, are among the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in England. They are recognised as an Inclusion Health group within NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach and actions on inclusion health to reduce healthcare inequalities. Evidence shows they often have complex health needs and experience higher rates of certain infectious diseases than the general population.

Migrant health operates within a rapidly evolving, politically sensitive landscape, where partnership working and collaboration across agencies at every level is essential. This requires continuous review and coordinated action to ensure safe, high-quality healthcare for people across all settings.

NHS England works in partnership under two National Partnership Agreements (NPAs) with the Home Office (HO), UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), including the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). Both NPAs set out shared objectives, acknowledging the factors that influence health outcomes for people seeking asylum and enabling a coordinated, multi-agency approach.

• One NPA applies to individuals awaiting a decision on their asylum application.
• The second NPA relates to individuals who are in detained settings and are bound for removal, including people who have exhausted all rights of appeal and foreign national offenders.

Whilst the Home Office is responsible for immigration enforcement and removal, the NHS retains the responsibility for commissioning appropriate healthcare services for the following settings:

• Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHFs): used to detain individuals for up to seven days or other prescribed periods.
• Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs): secure facilities where people without legal status in the UK are held while their immigration case is resolved. This is administrative rather than criminal detention.

NHS England also works closely with the Home Office on approved resettlement programmes, ensuring appropriate access to healthcare and continuity of care for people arriving in the UK through these routes.