Six Thousand Miles from Home: Health

As Southeast Asia has become popular tourist destinations for UK residents, featuring scenic seaside paradises, areas of natural beauty, and cheaper living expenses, Southeast Asians have been uprooted from their tropical homes and driven to migrate to the United Kingdom.  On arrival, they find an increasingly hostile local populace, comparatively astronomical costs of living, and a tortuous immigration process.  This series explores the complex interplay of Southeast Asians and the UK. 

This first session will examine the impact of the Southeast Asian Diaspora on the National Health Service, looking at the unique motivations of Southeast Asians migrating to work in the NHS, and the benefits this migration has provided to the health system. We then turn this on its head and look at the challenges Southeast Asians face when working in the NHS, including the complicated process of migration, the myriad differences in health care culture, and the idiosyncrasies of work in the UK compared to their home countries.

The ultimate aim will be to bring the community together to highlight the common challenges facing Southeast Asian healthcare workers and propose community-led steps forward regarding policy and action.

Format: Panel Discussion followed by Audience Reactions, Discussion, and Q&A. Panellists include:

• Krupesh Hirani AM – Greater London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Member of the Health Committee
• Francis Michael Fernando – Head of the Filipino Nurses Association in the UK
• Dr Shera Chok – Chair of the Shuri Network (BAME women in Digital Health) and former Chief Medical Officer of NHS Digital
• Dr Poh Wang – Elected Member for Junior Doctors on the UK Council, British Medical Association

Facilitators:

• Dr Adrian Rabe – Visiting Professor of Primary Care and Public Health (Imperial College London); Vice Chair of the Holborn and Covent Garden Branch Labour Party
• Councillor Lotis Bautista – Councillor for King’s Cross, London Borough of Camden; UCLH Stakeholder Governor; Chair of East and Southeast Asians for Labour