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The health of pregnant asylum seekers living in a Home Office hotel is at risk because of the difficulty they face accessing medical services, campaigners and local midwives have warned.
Frontline workers supporting mothers-to-be and women with newborns living at the Novotel Hotel in Stevenage said some were forced to walk for miles in their slippers and without coats days before their babies were due to get basic supplies.
They claim there have been cases of highly infectious diseases including scabies and diphtheria at the hotel, and there are concerns that the women have limited access to the right foods to support their pregnancies.
Ros Bragg, director of Maternity Action, a leading national maternity rights charity, said the poor conditions the women face in Stevenage are mirrored in hotels across the country.
A local midwife, who did not want to be named but has visited the hotel, said the new mothers there are “distressed” and that many have health issues due to having received little or no medical care during their pregnancies.
“They are the most vulnerable women I’ve seen in my career,” she said. “Some colleagues have come away from the hotel in tears. The women I’ve seen are from Albania, Georgia, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have come through very traumatic experiences and now they are being retraumatised.”
She said one pregnant woman her team is supporting has escaped domestic abuse in her home country, where her former partner’s family threatened to kill her, while another is fleeing threatened violence in a case of honour-based abuse.
“One woman’s children and her partner have been sent to Croydon, but she got sent here. None of these women speaks English. It is really upsetting. It is like they have given them freedom, but they are not really free. They are in prison because they are isolated and have a lack of choices.”
The midwife and her team at the Lister Hospital first began receiving visits from the 17 pregnant women at the hotel on around 5 October. Many have not had access to routine tests, meaning that diagnoses of gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia may have been missed. Their babies are also missing out on vital checks.
She said: “The women could have HIV, hepatitis or syphilis as they haven’t been tested. Also, we have not scanned the babies. We have not looked for any cardiac abnormalities.
“It feels very unfair and very dangerous that they have had no healthcare during their pregnancies. The pregnant women are crying. They are depressed. They are isolated and frightened. The women are not prepared at all for having a baby. They need a lot more support. They don’t have anything at all.”
The midwife explained that many have not been eating enough food because they only have access to three small ready meals a day at the hotel. The women are also reliant on charities to provide basics such as nappies, clothes and car seats.
The number of pregnant women placed at the hotel has also put a strain on health services, the midwife said. “It increases an already stretched workload. We were not expecting these women, so it was a massive shock. We are unprepared for it. It is chaotic,” she added.
Daniel Barnes, lead pastor of Stevenage Vineyard Church, told The Independent that the church has been supporting several families at the hotel through its charity Babyshed, which provides new clothing and baby equipment for struggling and vulnerable people.
He said: “In the beginning we had a number of new and pregnant mothers come to us looking for basic baby clothing, for themselves and their soon-to-be newborn, in a few cases walking several miles to us without coats or socks and just slippers, only several days before their due date.”
Mr Barnes noted it was initially just health and wider statutory services who had access to the hotel, while local services had to wait around six weeks to deliver support.
“We’ve been able to respond by providing babies’ and children’s clothing and equipment, but the general need in the community for practical items like mid-sized nappies, wipes, as well as financial donations, will always be there,” he added.
Ms Bragg, of Maternity Action, told The Independent that the picture is similar at other Home Office hotels, and that midwives across the country are raising similar concerns.
She said: “Midwives are contacting us worried that women are being given poor diets. They are not being given fresh fruit or vegetables, and no snacks to help with hunger pain or to deal with morning sickness.
“The women can’t cook for themselves. They don’t have enough money to buy food from the local supermarket. They are wholly dependent on what hotels provide. Midwives are concerned about the impact this is having on the health of women and their babies.”
The campaigner explained that the women receive just £8 per week to cover any extra needs, but warned that this is insufficient.
Ms Bragg added: “The Home Office claims that any extra needs pregnant women and new mothers have will be met by their accommodation provider – in this instance the hotel – but this is just not happening.
“In theory, baby equipment – buggies, milk bottles, cribs – is provided by the accommodation provider, but we are consistently hearing that women are left without this support.”
It is like they have given them freedom, but they are not really free. They are in prison because they are isolated and have a lack of choices
Midwife
Some of the hotels that women have been placed in are “very poorly” located, meaning that women are unable to travel by public transport to health services, she said.
“In theory, women should be reimbursed for travel to healthcare appointments. But in reality, problems with Home Office paperwork mean many women can’t access this support and struggle to attend their appointments.”
Ms Bragg said the rules about migrant women’s entitlement to free maternity care are “confusing”, and that the charity hears of “ludicrous amounts of women who have been wrongly charged” via its advice service.
She said this could deter some women from seeking healthcare because they are fearful that they will incur large debts for seeing their midwife.
“Women with asylum claims are entitled to care free of charge, but there are many migrant women who are obliged to pay. There is widespread confusion about who is and isn’t entitled to free care, so consequently many women avoid healthcare services.”
She said the charity had not seen government guidance outlining the support pregnant women staying in hotel accommodation should receive, and argued that ministers should be providing guidance to hotels on food and other support for mothers-to-be and new mothers.
The Home Office did not respond to The Independent’s requests for comment.