Sticking asylum seekers on old military bases is just kicking the can down the road, and it’s bad medicine.

I had a patient in last week, Mrs Henderson, she was worried sick about the plans for a new site near Thetford. Not that it’s in our patch directly, but it’s not far, and she was talking about how it would effect local schools and doctors. She’s right to be concerned, it always comes down to the same thing, doesn’t it? We’re already running on fumes most days, and that’s before you start adding thousands of people who often have complex health needs.

The idea of just sticking people on these big, isolated sites always strikes me as incredibly short-sighted. It saves a bit of money on the face of it, maybe, but what about the long game? You’re housing vulnerable people away from any real community, making it harder for them to learn English, get any sort of skills, or just feel like a person again.