A scoping review of the challenges in healthcare access and vaccination among migrants arriving and settling in the UK post 2015

Abstract

Background: Although healthcare is a fundamental human right, most migrant populations in the UK face many barriers to accessing essential services such as vaccination. These barriers, legislative changes, and other sociopolitical determinants have been blamed for notable disparities in vaccine coverage. This scoping review seeks to critically assess how UK policies and legislation align with the public health needs of migrants, specifically for vaccine-preventable diseases. 

 Methods: This is a scoping review study in methodology using the PCC (Population, Concept, and Context) framework. Search terms were entered into critical databases: Web of Science and MEDLINE, capturing documents between 2015 and 2024. The documents were then screened for relevance, charted, and analysed thematically to pull up emerging themes on barriers, facilitators, and disparities in vaccination among migrants.  

 Results: The review underscores the profound barriers migrant populations face in accessing vaccinations. Language and communication challenges, entrenched cultural beliefs, mistrust in healthcare systems, and structural issues like difficulties registering with healthcare services are prevalent. These obstacles were found to be particularly severe in regions such as Wales and Northern Ireland. Despite these challenges, the review highlights effective strategies, such as culturally tailored communication and community engagement, which have been successful in specific contexts but need to be more consistently applied across the UK. 

 Conclusion: This review identifies significant shortfalls in the UK health policy framework related to meeting the needs of migrant populations and the continuation of health inequalities. Solutions to this problem include the urgent need for regionally inclusive research, adopting trauma-informed care practices, and expanding language services. Improved multiagency collaboration is vital for the equitable access of all migrants to care, particularly for the control of vaccine-preventable diseases. The neglect of such issues poses a severe threat to the health and human rights of migrant communities.