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Medical Arrangements for Long-Stay Immigrants
Arrangements to cover the rather special problems which arise in connection
with the health and treatment of long-stay immigrants to this country were set
out in the Ministry of Health Circular C.M.O. 1/65. In consultation with representatives
of the medical profession and of local authorities, the Minister decided that
the following steps be taken :
(a) At ports of arrival long-stay immigrants, both Commonwealth and alien,
who are referred to medical inspectors, will be given a hand-out printed
in languages which they are likely to understand, the aim of which is to
encourage them to get on to the list of a medical practitioner in their place
of residence so that (if he thinks it desirable) he can arrange for them to
go to a mass radiography unit, a chest clinic or a hospital for X-ray.
(b) Long-stay immigrants who are referred to medical inspectors at the ports
will also be asked to provide their destination addresses and these will be
sent to the Medical Officer of Health of the county or county borough
concerned (including also Scotland and Northern Ireland) with a request
that he should try to persuade the immigrants to act on the advice they
have been given in the hand-out. Medical Officers of Health and local
officers of the Ministries of Labour and Pensions and National Insurance
will also be supplied with copies of the hand-out in case they come into
contact with immigrants who have not received one or apparently lost it.
(c) In the near future it is hoped that arrangements can also be made in respect
of those dependants who obtain entry certificates in their country of origin
for their names and destination addresses to be entered on a tear-off slip
in their passports. This slip will be detached by the immigration authorities
and passed to the medical inspectors so that the port medical officer can
send the address on to the appropriate Medical Officer of Health in the
same way as in the case of holders of Ministry of Labour vouchers.
It was hoped that these procedures would help to ensure that long-stay
immigrants would register with general practitioners at an early stage of their life
in this country and would not wait until they fell ill. It was also hoped that those
for whom it was appropriate, would have an X-ray at an early stage.
In April, a further Ministry of Health Circular C.M.O. 7/65, was issued and
dealt with detailed specific arrangements for the detection and prevention of
tuberculosis.
During the year 252 families were notified to the department and 179 were
successfully visited, which not infrequently involved more than one visit per family.
Some families were not known at the addresses given and others, despite repeated
visits, have not been contacted to date.
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