A watchdog has condemned the Home Office for confiscating life-saving prescription drugs from people it detains.
Rules requiring guards to take away prescribed medicines from people at short-term holding facilities (STFHs), where migrants can be detained for up to 24 hours, could lead to a medical emergency and endanger their lives, says the annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for the North East Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber published on Tuesday.
Some of the nine facilities covered by the report are at major airports.
Cases highlighted in the report include that of a man with epilepsy who had prescribed medicine to prevent seizures, and a man with an artificial heart valve who had NHS-prescribed daily medication to prevent blood clotting and to treat high blood pressure.
Dominic Byrne, the chair of the IMB, said that while some examples of positive practice were identified, there were also areas of significant concern. Seventeen recommendations for change have been made, including a call to amend the rules about allowing detainees to be given doses of any medication confiscated as and when the prescribed dose is required.
“We are particularly worried that the current rules on confiscation of medicines can endanger life,” Byrne said. “We invite the home secretary and all the people reading this report to consider how they would feel if their mother, father, son or daughter had a health condition, was placed in detention and then was deprived of medicine that was necessary to maintain their health and, possibly, safeguard their life.
“We have previously raised concerns, including a letter to the minister, about this matter. The current rules place staff at these facilities in a very difficult position. If they apply the rules, they can end up with a medical emergency on their hands. If they allow the detained person to take a dose, and in some instances they have felt they have had to, they are in breach of the rules.
“We hope the home secretary will reconsider policy around the confiscation of prescribed medication and the impact this has on detained people.”
The report states: “We view this as a matter of urgency as the situation could trigger a medial emergency.” It says the current rules are “inhumane, dangerous and wrong”.
In 2021, IMB representatives wrote to the Home Office minister Chris Philp to set out the serious risks associated with leaving immigration detainees unable to access their own medication.
A prescribing paramedic was introduced in February 2022 at some of the larger airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, but this does not apply across all STHFs.
The report also highlights an incident last November when Heathrow immigration removal centre – the largest of its kind in Europe – was evacuated after power cuts led to disturbances. At 11.30pm on Saturday 5 November, a 56-seater coach carrying 30 of the evacuated men arrived at Swinderby STHF in Lincoln.
It was too big to fit into the designated unloading area and so had to be parked in a dark, remote rural access lane. The men became confused and thought they had been moved to a prison, and 15 tried to escape.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We thank the Independent Monitoring Board for this report, which acknowledges the safety, welfare and dignity of detained individuals are a clear priority. We take the welfare of people in our care extremely seriously and we continue to improve our short-term holding facilities.”
