Empowering professionals: a multidisciplinary approach to supporting people seeking asylum and refugees

Abstract

People seeking asylum and refugees living in initial accommodation in the UK can experience significant barriers to accessing care. They often have complex health and social needs and may experience fragmentation in the delivery of services. The Respond Integrated Refugee Health Service, hosted by University College London Hospital and operating across North Central London, has been created to address some of these challenges. In addition to offering in-person holistic health and well-being assessments, infection screening and onward care planning, Respond has developed an online multidisciplinary team (MDT) forum to support professionals working with the most complex of cases. Key professional groups from across the network are invited to contribute to multidisciplinary care planning, providing an efficient and streamlined multiagency model of care, improved access to interdisciplinary pathways and opportunities for interprofessional learning. Here, we describe the creation of the Respond Complex Refugee Health Advice and Guidance MDT and discuss the perceived benefits and limitations of the MDT approach in improving the care of people seeking asylum and refugees.

Keywords: Child Health.

Figure 1. Steps in the Respond model of care, including step 5: ‘Consultation to support complex case management at the Respond MDT’. GP, general practitioner; MDT, multidisciplinary team.

Figure 2. An anonymised case study representative of the experiences of several families discussed at The Respond Complex Refugee Health Advice and Guidance MDT. GP, general practitioner; MDT. multidisciplinary team.

Figure 3. Free text feedback from MDT attendees. MDT, multidisciplinary team.