Hull CCG was approached in February of 2020 by the Cities of Sanctuary movement to ask us if we would be interested in becoming the first CCG of Sanctuary in England.

The Cities of Sanctuary is an organisation dedicating to encouraging places and institutions to achieve Sanctuary Status.

Sanctuary Status confirms that an organisation has a fundamental commitment to safeguard the rights of migrants and asylums seekers, in our case of a health commissioner, to have health services commissioned, available and accessible and to make those services welcoming.

Both the City of Hull and its University separately have already attained that status and the intention is that we join them in June 2021 to coincide with Refugee Week 2021.

Hull has a particular standing based on its history being central to the struggle for emancipation and the work it continues to champion in battle against modern slavery.

Hull CCG has a long tradition working with migrant, refugee, and vulnerable populations, an appreciation of the health and social difficulties of these groups is woven into the DNA of our organisation through energetic representation of their interests at Board level, through the services we commission and the engagement and communication work with do with local communities ,

Migrant and asylum seekers particular and in some cases unique heath needs and an important part of our work is to find out whether the services we commission fulfil those needs.

We want to learn from those with lived experience and we have invited two settled migrants onto our steering group to guide and support the process along with representatives from local partners and the City of Sanctuary organisation

There are three aspects to the work that will be delivered by the CCG Operational Group delivering the work supported by our Steering Group.