Healthcare utilization among migrants to the UK: cross-sectional analysis of two national surveys.

OBJECTIVE: To contribute objective evidence on health care utilization among migrants to the UK to inform policy and service planning. METHODS: We analysed data from Understanding Society, a household survey with fieldwork from 2015 to 2017, and the European Health Interview Survey with data collected between 2013 and 2014. We explored health service utilization among migrants to the UK across primary care, inpatient admissions and maternity care, outpatient care, mental health, dental care and physiotherapy. We adjusted for age, sex, long-term health conditions and time since moving to the UK. RESULTS: Health care utilization among migrants to the UK was lower than utilization among the UK-born population for all health care dimensions except inpatient admissions for childbirth; odds ratio (95%CI) range 0.58 (0.50-0.68) for dental care to 0.88 (0.78-0.98) for primary care). After adjusting for differences in age and self-reported health, these differences were no longer observed, except for dental care (odds ratio 0.57, 95%CI 0.49-0.66, P < 0.001). Across primary care, outpatient and inpatient care, utilization was lower among those who had recently migrated, increasing to the levels of the nonmigrant population after 10 years or more since migrating to the UK. CONCLUSIONS: This study finds that newly arrived migrants tend to utilize less health care than the UK population and that this pattern was at least partly explained by better health, and younger age. Our findings contribute nationally representative evidence to inform public debate and decision-making on migration and health.

Psychological Wellbeing and Work: Improving Service Provision and Outcomes.

This study explores proposals to improve employment and health outcomes for people with common mental health problems and makes a number of recommendations. These include: using evidence-based models to provide services that combine employment and mental health support; increasing integration between existing treatment and employment services to improve outcomes in both areas; applying evidence-based models in new ways or a using combination of approaches; and providing timely access to coordinated treatment and employment support for a greater number of people with common mental health problems.