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January 15, 2025

Secret Shopper Action Expands to Greenwich for the First Time

Our Greenwich community shows up for the universal right to healthcare in an unprecedented action to unite sanctuary seekers, GP practices, and Royal Borough of Greenwich Council. See the full results of our Secret Shopper below!

For the first time, we expanded our Secret Shopper action into Greenwich, with the Greenwich Borough of Sanctuary movement visiting all 27 GP surgeries across the Royal Borough of Greenwich to make sure that every practice is treating people fairly in accordance with NHS and Safe Surgeries guidelines!

Many migrants struggle to access necessary healthcare due to existing barriers around language, digital exclusion, and documentation. That’s why our community members went ‘undercover’ to ask GP surgeries whether local residents could register without proof of address or ID, access an interpreter, using a physical form, and without needing to disclose their immigration status. Our results were as follows:

  • 7% of practices had safe surgeries posters visible.

  • 56% of practices allowed for registration without proof of address.

  • 44% of practices allowed for registration without ID.

  • 89% of practices offered interpreters.

  • 59% of practices confirmed immigration status would not need to be disclosed.

  • 44% of practices confirmed physical forms were available.

Additionally, we were greeted with helpful and friendly faces across the board. Just two GP surgeries received a score of 2 or lower when it came to making our ‘shoppers’ feel welcomed and heard. Like our previous action across Lewisham, the findings will be shared with our Greenwich Borough of Sanctuary network as well as Greenwich Council and the NHS South East London ICS.

The Secret Shopper action is part of a greater collaborative campaign to encourage all surgeries in Greenwich to register as Safe Surgeries, indicating their pledge to make their services as accessible as possible to all sanctuary seeking people. In the new year, we look forward to continuing working with the Council, local NHS, and our community with lived experience to ensure that all Greenwich residents get the healthcare they need and deserve!

Read about our Lewisham Secret Shopper action - and all the other work we've been doing to build sanctuary!