Diagnostic testing: therapeutic mobilities, social fields, and medical encounters in the transnational healthcare practices of Polish migrants in the UK

Central and Eastern European Migrants in the United Kingdom: A Scoping Review of the Reasons for Utilisation of Transnational Healthcare

“…Mismatched cultural expectations of healthcare services provided in the United Kingdom were the most common theme [ 49 , 50 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. CEE migrants were frustrated with the general practitioner (GP) acting as the gatekeeper, with no direct or easy access to specialists in the NHS compared to their CoO.…”

“…The research carried out by Healthwatch Reading [ 62 ] revealed that participants labelled their GPs as ‘the paracetamol service’. Individuals also identified discrepancies in diagnoses between the United Kingdom and their CoO [ 59 , 61 ]. One case study by Troccoli et al [ 61 ] illustrated the way a Polish woman navigated the healthcare systems in the United Kingdom and Poland, with her son being diagnosed with asthma in Poland before he was diagnosed in the United Kingdom, due to variation in diagnostic criteria.…”

“…Lack of immediate access to test results in the United Kingdom was another source of frustration [ 54 , 59 , 61 ], as evidenced by one participant in the study: ‘Getting test results is different. In Poland you can get them in your hands while here you cannot see them at all’ [ 51 ].…”

“…Although CEE migrants utilised NHS healthcare, they often returned to their CoO to seek reassurance, to obtain second opinions of the tests done in the United Kingdom or to compare advice offered by GPs in the United Kingdom [ 51 , 52 , 54 , 59 , 61 ]. Some studies indicated that CEE migrants had little confidence in their GPs, with some evidence showing this stemmed from their perception that GPs ‘looked at photos on the internet’ [ 58 ] and ‘typed away on the computer’ [ 53 ] to diagnose and prescribe.…”

Structural Conflict in the Polish Migrant Community in the UK

“…This situation can lead to cross-cultural conflicts, including disputes over the religious upbringing of children in migration conditions, which has been discussed in some research studies (Fel, Kozak, Wódka, 2022). A systemic conflict has also been found over issues such as Polish people's diminished opportunities regarding access to healthcare (Troccoli et al, 2022), access to education for Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej • www.przegladsocjologiijakosciowej.org Polish migrants' children (Sadura, 2022), and the devaluation of social and cultural capital visible, for instance, in the migrant diaspora in the UK becoming effectively established in the low-qualification and low-income segment (Kaprāns, 2023). Discrimination-based conflicts between migrant groups of different nationalities have been reported as well (Narkowicz, 2023).…”