A look back at 2021

For many of us, these have been the longest two years of our lives.

A lot has changed since the UK first went into lockdown in March 2020, what hasn’t changed though is the commitment by Doctors of the World to ensuring universal access to healthcare in the UK and abroad.

Despite the vaccine, despite the reduction of restrictions affecting our day to day lives, the pandemic continues to hit the most vulnerable in our society hard.

Health and social inequalities have widened. New barriers to healthcare have emerged, with the rapid shift to online healthcare leaving those without the means to access it cut off from vital care and support.

Our staff, volunteers and supporters have consistently risen to these challenges, working tirelessly to ensure Doctors of the World can continue to help people in vulnerable circumstances get medical care and advice.

Here are seven ways that we were able to make a difference in 2021:

Being there for the community

Doctors of the World is committed to going where others won’t, to provide life-saving medical care and support to excluded communities. That’s why, with great excitement, we took delivery of a second mobile clinic in April 2021.

The mobile clinic allows us to take healthcare to this who need it most. Take a tour of our mobile clinic and as you’ll see, the mobile clinic contains everything our team needs to provide basic medical care on the road.

Isabelle Pereira is a Doctors of the World clinic volunteer, and to her our clinics offer the chance to empower people in vulnerable situations to exercise their basic human right to health, and access to healthcare.

“They can be in a very dark place…and they need to be helped, to be supported to get out of that dark place,” she said. “I think they appreciate the friendly face, the friendly smile…and not being judged.

“Basically, they feel safe when they are in the clinic, or when they talk to us, so it’s nice to support people who have lost their hope or lost trust in the system.”

To support the wider national effort to get as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as possible, Doctors of the World ran a series of vaccine clinics in Lewisham during 2021. These clinics were designed and delivered to reach communities who may not have otherwise had access to a GP to receive the vaccine.

As well as this, we have continued to run our clinics virtually, provided our helpline throughout the year, and where possible held in-person clinics to ensure that when people need us, we are there.

Our homeless outreach services have also continued throughout the pandemic, and you can find out what a night with these services is like, here.

Overcoming language barriers with translated health information

The UK has a hugely diverse population, and with that comes a huge diversity in the languages used across the country. That’s why, following on from the success of our translated resources in 2020, in early 2021, we launched our COVID-19 Vaccine Advocacy Project and produced a suite of translated COVID-19 resources.

The COVID-19 resources included information and guidance in written, video, and animated form, as well as information and guidance on other health issues, in over 60 languages.

This project, the first of its kind in the UK was created to ensure that everyone in the UK has access to COVID-19 services, including the vaccines, regardless of immigration status or personal circumstances, regardless of immigration status.

As well as producing translated COVID-19 information resources, DOTW has played a proactive advocacy and coordination role in the roll-out of the UK’s vaccination programme throughout the year.

You can sign up to our COVID-19 Vaccine Advocacy Project mailing list to find out more.

Putting people with lived experience at our heart

2021 saw the introduction of the Doctors of the World National Health Advisors (NHAs). The NHAs are an advisory group of people with lived experience of migration and healthcare exclusion, to ensure migrants have a greater influence over healthcare policy and practice at the charity.

Abie is one of the new DOTW National Health Advisors, and she took on the role to make a difference. She said, “I joined the DOTW National Health Advisors because I want to make a change, and because of the way migrants are treated.” Abie continued, “my dream is to see all refugees and asylum seeker being treated as equal.”

People with lived experience of healthcare exclusion know best the impact of policies and services that affect and are available to them. Their voices and insights should be at the centre of changing attitudes among the general public, making well-informed decisions, ensuring services are inclusive, and driving sustainable policy change in healthcare.

Meet the NHAs and find out more on our website.

Supporting the NHS to provide services to refugees and migrants

2021 saw our Safe Surgeries network go from strength to strength. As we ended the year, there were over 600 Safe Surgeries throughout the UK who have committed to ensuring that people without ID, a home address, or proof of immigration can access primary healthcare. In all, the number of Safe Surgeries has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic.

Doctors of the World will continue to provide support, training, and resources to GP surgeries across the UK throughout 2022 to continue to grow our Safe Surgeries network and ensure even wider access to primary care.

As well as this, in early 2021, Doctors of the World hosted an online vaccination seminar aimed at improving access to the COVID-19 vaccine for marginalised communities across the UK. We also launched our Inclusion Health Self-Assessment Tool and supported the production and launch of the NHS England GP access cards.

The Inclusion Health Self-Assessment Tool allows primary care networks to assess and examine their engagement with the groups within their local communities who experience the high levels of health inequalities. This is vital to ensuring that as many people as possible can receive the care that they need and are entitled to.

The NHS England GP access cards are aimed encouraging GP registration and ensuring that no one is missed during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Regardless of your immigration status, everyone in England is entitled to register with a GP.

It is crucial that GP practices do not turn people away if they lack proof of ID, address, or immigration status. People can also register if they do not know or do not have an NHS number.

Responding to emergencies

In August 2021, a terrible earthquake and tropical storm hit the island of Haiti. Nearly 2,500 people lost their lives and nearly 13,000 people suffered injuries. Doctors of the World chapters from across the globe were quickly on the ground providing vital medical supplies, medical care, and other humanitarian aid, to those effected. Our supporters in the UK alone raised around £10,000 to help with these relief efforts.

At the cutting edge of research

The Doctors of the World team have been at the cutting edge of research, supporting academics from leading universities in exploring issues such as sexual and gender based violence, the barriers migrants face when accessing healthcare, and the unmet health needs of street sex workers.

This work puts the voices of the people we work with at the heart of the conversation, and it helps shape future policy to make life better for those living in vulnerable circumstances.

Our team of experts work tirelessly to shine a light on those who are so often marginalised, and our research will continue to go from strength to strength in 2022.

Fighting for change

Through letters to politicians, protests, and through campaigning for improved policies around migrant healthcare, Doctors of the World has continued to push the Government to be kinder and fairer.

Late in 2021, Doctors of the World staff and NHAs joined thousands of others in Parliament Square to protest the cruel Nationality and Borders Bill. You can hear what NHA, Thabo, had to say about it in this video.

We have also been actively campaigning as part of the Hands Up For Our Health coalition on issues such as, NHS charging, access to the COVID-19 vaccine, and much more. This campaigning led to over 1,000 people writing to their MP to call for healthcare for all.

2021 was another challenging year, but your support enabled us to help thousands of people across the UK. All of the team at Doctors of the World appreciates and values your support, and we look forward to working with you in 2022.