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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 became ill. It was also hoped that
those for whom it was appropriate, would have an X-ray at an early stage.
The Middlesex Local Medical Committee agreed in 1966 that health visitors
may refer immigrants for chest X-ray direct to the chest clinics at the time of their
visit on the grounds of expediency and expedition.
Ministry of Health circular 8/68 drew attention to the Commonwealth Immigrants
Act, 1968.
The Act provides new powers to control immigrants from the Commonwealth.
In particular, it implements paragraph 30 of the White Paper on immigration from
the Commonwealth (Command 2739) which reads
"The Government have now decided that an additional power should be taken
so that at the discretion of the Immigration Authorities any immigrant, including
dependants, may be medically examined at the port of entry and may be
required as a condition of entry to this country to report to a Medical Officer
of Health with a view to necessary medical treatment being arranged ".
Medical inspectors at ports of entry may now examine Commonwealth immigrant
dependants and if they think warranted in the interests of public health, can
recommend that admission to this country be conditional on the immigrants reporting
to the Medical Officer of Health at the destination area, with a view to further
examination and, if necessary, medical treatment.
Failure to comply with this requirement, when imposed, is in contravention of
the Act. Powers have not been taken to apply to immigrants measures of compulsion
which do not apply to the general public in the matter of accepting medical treatment.
If an immigrant refuses to accept treatment he is in the same position as any member
of the public.
In Enfield, the existing procedure, in practice, already met the new situation but
more detailed guidance from the Department of Health and Social Security is awaited.
During the year, the names of 324 long-stay immigrants, resident in the London
Borough of Enfield, were notified. Successful visits were made to 172 of these but
some of the immigrants listed were unknown at the addresses given and others,
despite repeated visits, have not yet been contacted. In no case has a condition
of entry been imposed under the new Act.
Dr. Vernon Davies has noted that tuberculosis in immigrants to the borough
has not been found to be a problem, but strict attention is given to contact examination
in any cases which do arise. In one instance more than 60 contacts of an
immigrant tuberculous patient were examined, but no other case was found among
them.
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