Helen Salisbury: Falling in love with medicine again

Last week I attended an event celebrating the Oxford Refugee Health Initiative.1 It’s not often that I feel fired up to write about something so positive, so joyful and life affirming—although the background, of course, is less cheerful.The UK welcomes fewer refugees than most other European countries,2 and those who do arrive receive a very variable reception depending on where they’re from. When Ukrainians fled war and devastation, the UK government was supportive of citizens accommodating the refugees in their homes, and there are pages of government advice on how GPs should care for this group.3 However, if you come from a different war torn or dangerous country—Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen, for example—no such support or encouragement is available.An estimated 800 people were transferred to hotels in and around Oxford in November 2022, many of whom continue to live in this unsuitable accommodation with no cooking or laundry facilities.4…
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