Experiences of asylum seeking women on housing and health care services in Bradford

Aims

The study looks at housing and health care service provision for asylum seeking women in Bradford, United Kingdom, and whether service delivery meets their needs and expectations. A key aim of this study was to empower asylum seeking women, give them a voice and enable their views to be heard.

Methodology

The study was carried out in June 2009 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. A total of 10 asylum seeking women took part from Zimbabwe, Iran and Eritrea. The women were aged between 23 and 48 years old and were chosen from the Bradford Ecumenical Asylum Concern [BEACON] project. They respondents had been seeking asylum for between one and 3 years. The study adopted a qualitative approach, using semi-structured focus groups. Two focus groups were conducted with the same 10 women on 2 different occasions.

Key issues

The study highlights that the healthcare services provided in Bradford to asylum seeking women are culturally inappropriate, the accommodation allocation system leads to social isolation and there is insufficient information on healthcare and housing services due to a lack of adequate English language skills.

Conclusions

The study concludes that although there is a variety of housing and healthcare services for asylum seeking women in Bradford, most services do not meet their specific needs or expectations, with little attention paid to issues of culture, gender and religion. There are a lack of female doctors and child care facilities. Language is one of the major barriers and there is confusion around interpreting services and access to them. Racism and discrimination were also perceived to be commonplace, as well as a lack of overall awareness in relation to asylum seekers. The study also indicates a lack of knowledge around the UK health care system among women asylum seekers.