Cameron Barracks, Inverness.
The Home Office plan to house up to 300 single male asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness would cost the NHS around £1.3 million, it has been reported.
The news broke in the Daily Mail which said a leaked report shows that an estimate by the local health board puts the bill at around £1.3 million.
It is a significant blow to NHS Highland’s finances which were reported to be running “a net deficit of no more than £40 million” last month.
But the health board ignored our questions about the draft “costing proposal” that was apparently written in December.
That proposal assumes there will be around 250 people on site at one time, staying between 70 and 90 days each and projecting that the site will be occupied for a year.
That was before revelations from MSPs Fergus Ewing and Edward Mountain that suggest the Home Office plan may fall foul of planning law in Scotland.
The costing proposal details the huge costs of healthcare services for the site, it includes:
• £629,298 to fund the workforce needed for the site
• £269,899 for on on-site vaccination clinics staffed by two members of staff for two days a week, offering jabs against diseases including diphtheria, tetanus and polio
• £115,740 will be required for extra capacity for translation services
• £87,067 for mental health services with dedicated “distress brief intervention” support for on-site residents 365 days a year
• £25,665 for monthly sexual health clinics offering blood-borne virus screening at weekends with “condoms available on-site”
The proposal states: “NHS Highland acute health system is under considerable strain. It is therefore imperative we develop a Core Site Team to ensure people are signposted to the appropriate service avoiding A&E wherever possible”.
The report proposes that the core team is made up of two nurses and an admin assistant and a social worker to address “support and protection issues”.
A UK Government spokesman said: “We work closely with health partners to minimise the impact on the local community, GP practices and existing NHS resources.”
An NHS Highland spokeswoman said: “NHS Highland can confirm that we have established an Operational Group to undertake a detailed review of our costing proposal for the Home Office.
“We will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government, Scottish Refugee Council, Home Office, Highland Council, and other key partners to ensure that high-quality, coordinated core services are delivered in a sustainable way.
“Our priority remains meeting the needs of people seeking asylum and delivering high-quality support and services across all core services.”
Conservative Highland MSP Edward Mountain has warned for months about the impact on the NHS from housing asylum seekers at the barracks.
He said: “This extra pressure on a cash-strapped rural health board would be intolerable. What’s more, there is a hidden burden on GPs. There is just no way practices in and around Inverness can absorb this additional load.
“To make matters worse, the Home Office don’t appear to have made any attempt to consult the GPs who are expected to carry out so much additional work.
“No-one expects such a movement of people to come at no cost, but I really cannot see why taxpayers need to spend thousands on sexual health provision.
“People are already angry at this plan, and ridiculous add-ons like that will only make the situation worse. The overall eye-watering cost underlines yet again how inappropriate and unsustainable this whole idea is.”
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