Online information on primary care services for refugees and asylum-seekers

Government initiatives concerning equitable services and information provision aim to provide for the whole community. This includes those recently arrived in England as refugees. This study evaluated the information provided online by 16 London primary care trusts (PCTs) on activities under way to meet the needs of the local refugee population and the extent to which government initiatives are being met. Information published on websites of PCTs with a refugee population estimated to be over 2.5% of the London total refugee population was surveyed using a 13-item framework based on guidelines for health professionals working in refugee health (Burnett and Fassil, 2002). The findings show a disparity between different types of information provided and variations in the overall standards achieved by individual PCTs, indicating a need for considerable work if the requirements of the public and government for access to high quality information about services are to be met. The majority of PCTs, however, provide good information regarding coordination of services and evidence of a thorough health needs assessment. The findings are relevant to health professionals working with refugees and to PCT employees involved in publishing information on the internet.