The ‘bespoke’ healthcare package on offer for up to 300 undocumented male migrants will include mental health support – but locals have to wait five months or fork out to go private
The Labour government has earmarked Cameron Barracks to house up to 300 asylum seekers(Image: Paul Campbell/Getty)
Asylum seekers housed at Cameron Barracks in Inverness would be given access to free mental health counselling as part of plans drawn up by the UK Government.
The revelation was described as a “massive slap in the face” to local people in the Highland capital, who must wait around five months before starting regular sessions on the NHS. Alternatively, one hour of private therapy costs between £40 to £100.
The Home Office says it has yet to make a “final decision” on whether it will use the barracks to house up to 300 men who have entered the UK illegally, mainly on small boats across the English Channel.
It has already caused huge anger in Inverness, even before details of the “bespoke” healthcare package were revealed. Reform UK spokesman Thomas Kerr said: “The Cameron Barracks is simply the wrong location for a facility like this. Local people are rightly angry. To now learn that taxpayers will also be paying for mental health support for people who have come to this country illegally is a massive slap in the face.”
The use of the barracks – along with another military base in East Sussex – was announced in October last year and is a key plank of the bid to shut down controversial asylum hotels.
The Home Office has a statutory duty to provide healthcare to asylum seekers, sparking fears the city’s overstretched public services would be put under even more strain. But Highland councillors have been told that by having trained therapists on site, it would mean “minimise the impact” on the NHS.
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A briefing note sent to councillors before the migrants’ arrival says: “Primary healthcare will be available on site, including mental health support. Funding for these services will be provided by the Home Office to minimise impact on local GP surgeries and NHS resources.”
Isabelle MacKenzie, a Scottish Conservative councillor who represents the ward where the barracks is located, accused the Home Office of giving “preferential treatment” to asylum seekers. “It’s almost like they’re getting a bespoke service,” she told the Sunday Times. “They’re getting a roof over their head. They’re getting fed and watered. They’re getting their basic necessities and any medical needs are being catered for.”
Edward Mountain, a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands region, said it was “galling when many of those living in Inverness and the Highlands are finding it increasingly hard to access mental health services in their community”.
Reform UK’s Thomas Kerr described the plan as a ‘slap in the face'(Image: Alasdair MacLeod/Daily Record)
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Asylum seekers had originally been expected to arrive last month, but this was delayed due to refurbishment work required to make the facility fit for purpose. It had most recently been used as transitional accommodation for the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
The Ministry of Defence has offered the barracks – formerly the base of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders – to the Home Office for 12 months. After that, the barracks will return to the MoD as part of its training estate.
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