Wethersfield health concerns ignored by Home Office
Witham MP Priti Patel has called on the Home Office to stop any further asylum seeker arrivals at Wethersfield until they address concerns about health screening arrangements. Since asylum seekers first moved onto the site earlier this month, there have been reports of scabies and TB among the residents, with the Home Office failing to undertake thorough medical screenings until they arrived at Wethersfield. Local health and council services had been warning the Home Office of the need to ensure proper health screening was taking place prior to arrival and assurances given by the Home Office have failed to materialise.
Priti said: “The Home Office has ignored local concerns over health screening and this failure has led to scabies and TB being found at the site. Local concerns about the management of the site have been ignored and the Home Office needs to get a grip. People with infectious diseases, who once on site are free to leave and travel, should not be brought onto the site in the first place and there are serious questions that the Home Office needs to answer about their actions and the risk that this pose.”
Commenting on the use of the site, Priti said: “I have been pressing the Home Office for answers and challenging this decision since it was announced in March. Wethersfield is unsuitable for accommodating 1,700 asylum seekers and I will continue to hold the Home Office to account and raise local concerns with the site.”