Greenwich GPs have all been invited by members of the Borough of Sanctuary group to sign up to Doctors of the World’s Safe Surgeries initiative.

The letter was signed by local councillors, local NHS bodies, the Greenwich Borough of Sanctuary group, as well as others and was distributed to all GPs surgeries last week.

Safe Surgeries are practices that commit to taking steps to tackle the barriers faced by many migrants in accessing healthcare. This includes upholding NHS policies not to ask for ID or proof of address when registering new patients. 

It also encourages surgeries to use interpreters, have clear posters showing that they are a Safe Surgery, and making the registration process as simple as possible. More on the Safe Surgeries toolkit can be found here.

Dr Tran, the Chair of Greenwich’s Local Medical Committee said: ““Greenwich LMC fully supports the Safe Surgeries initiative, which aims to reduce health inequalities and supports access to general practice, particularly for vulnerable patient groups.”

To read the letter and encourage your practice to sign up as a Safe Surgery, see here.