Language barrier hampers treatment of asylum seekers

THE biggest problem in treating asylum seekers and refugees is the language barrier, a survey of family doctors has found.

Of more than 1,000 GPs who replied to the survey, 75% said they treated asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers; 40% had up to 20 such patients on their books; 28% had up to 50 such clients; 17% treated up to 100 and 3% had more than 200 members of ethnic minorities as patients.

Communication was listed as the main difficulty in providing care to this group. Other problems included pay issues, approach to appointments, cultural understanding and unusual health problems.