Increasingly restrictive and harmful migration policies, focused on deterrence and enforcement, and a lack of alternative safe routes, have forced people fleeing violence and persecution to risk their lives by crossing the English Channel in small, overcrowded boats. At least 78 people died attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, making it the deadliest year on record.[1] In 2024, our teams provided essential medical care, and called for safe and dignified accommodation for asylum seekers.

In July 2023, the UK government opened a large-scale asylum ‘accommodation centre’ in former military barracks in Wethersfield, rural Essex. Around 13 kilometres from the nearest town, this mass containment site holds men between the ages of 18 and 65, and has a maximum capacity of 800. All the men accommodated here crossed the English Channel to seek safety in the UK.   

In November 2023, DOTW UK and MSF launched a mobile clinic outside the main gates of Wethersfield. The clinic offered in-depth general healthcare consultations for men held on the site, with translation services so they could communicate in their primary spoken language. The service also made referrals to safeguarding, emergency and other services, as appropriate. Between January and June 2024, our teams ran psychoeducation sessions.

The site is described as ‘prison-like’ by men living there, and many patients we treated had experienced violence, ill treatment, and abuse in their countries of origin and on their journeys to the UK. Most patients we saw had signs of psychological distress, and accommodation at Wethersfield was unsuitable for many people. Overall, the unsafe and deeply distressing environment of the site has a profound and negative impact on the health, wellbeing, and dignity of the men accommodated there, and we have consistently called for its closure.