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Introducing our speaker... Dr Chris Newton 

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Introducing our speaker... Dr Chris Newton 

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Introducing our speaker... Nicola McGarvey 

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Introducing our speaker... Nicola McGarvey 

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Introducing our speaker... Eleanor Melvin 

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Introducing our speaker... Eleanor Melvin 

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Introducing our speaker...Paul Saunders 

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Introducing our speaker...Paul Saunders 

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Introducing our speaker...Ayesah Makadam 

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Introducing our speaker...Ayesah Makadam 

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Carriers of Hope- Information leaflet for professionals 

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Carriers of Hope- Information leaflet for professionals 

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Carriers of Hope What do we do - for professionals.

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Supporting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and other Migrants in Coventry since 2009

Charitable Incorporated Organisation Number 1180105

What We Do

First and foremost, we provide practical support by recycling good quality items donated by the general public and giving them to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in need in Coventry. To find out how to donate good quality used items to us, please click here.

We offer opportunities for our clients to grow their skills, providing opportunities to volunteer, improve their English, and access training. We also signpost to other support available in the city.

We aim to ensure our clients have access to essential items such as food, clothes, baby equipment, furniture, white goods, other electrical items, household goods, toiletries, cleaning equipment, toys, school uniform and other educational support (such as laptops).

Our Vision

That Coventry is a place where Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Migrant Families are welcomed and inspired to rebuild their lives for a better future.

Our Funders

Carriers of Hope would not be able to function without the generous support from individual donors, as well as grants from organisations and supporters.

Find Out More

Our Mission

To provide a warm welcome, practical support and care, to Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Migrant families in need
To befriend and empower individuals to be active citizens
To engage in Coventry's vision to become a Migrant Friendly City by working in partnership with other organisations.

Our Staff and Volunteers

We are a small but diverse, talented staff and volunteer team. Many of our clients also volunteer with us.
To find out more about the team and what we do, please click the link below

Find Out More

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Donate to Carriers of Hope

Carriers of Hope runs a busy client facing service seeing around 1000 clients a year.
In order to meet the demands of our vulnerable client group we need your support,
​please kindly consider making a donation or look at our volunteering opportunities.

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Supporting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and other Migrants in Coventry since 2009 Charitable Incorporated Organisation Number 1180105 What We Do First and foremost, we provide practical support by recycling good quality items donated by the general public and giving them to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in need in Coventry.

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Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre: Website 

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Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre: Website 

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My name is Ramin and I am an ESOL student at the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC). I have recently taken part in the 'Belonging in Coventry: A Shakespearean ESOL journey' project, where we explored Shakespeare's heritage sites in Warwickshire. We took part in workshops to understand Shakespeare's life and work and we also had the opportunity to experience a UK university environment and enhance our digital literacy through virtual reality. As part of the project, we went to see Romeo and Juliet in the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. It was so exciting to finally see a live performance after Covid, and it really was an exhilarating experience. I was a professional actor and director in Iran, before I came to the UK, so this experience to me was extra enjoyable. I managed to meet new people from other classes, this was also a new experience for me as I learned about different cultures and languages. I was also informed by other class fellows, that they were taken to various heritage sites in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of the 'Belonging in Coventry' project. It was a unique theatre, all the staff were very harmonious and besides this harmony, the music gave it a better effect. This project made us more aware of the life of William Shakespeare and his work. Participating in projects like this a allows us to get to know more about English culture and literature, and to think about different issues and to discuss and listen to each other's opinions. The show was a new version of the story of Romeo and Juliet, which encourages diverse people to be peaceful, kind and have mutual respect, regardless of gender, sexual orientation and race. I would like to thank the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I am so grateful I joined CRMC's ESOL classes. Furthermore, I would like to thank Farida ESOL manager at CRMC, Zoe from Coventry University, Shakespeare's Birth Trust, and City of Culture Coventry for allowing us to experience and access these exciting opportunities in England, our new home. ﻿

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Help & Support for Refugees | Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre

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My name is Ramin and I am an ESOL student at the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC). I have recently taken part in the 'Belonging in Coventry: A Shakespearean ESOL journey' project, where we explored Shakespeare's heritage sites in Warwickshire.

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Introducing our speaker... Liz Fitzhugh 

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Introducing our speaker... Liz Fitzhugh 

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Introducing our speaker... Abd Alraheem Salim 

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Introducing our speaker... Abd Alraheem Salim 

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Aimee Robson is the Deputy Director of Personalised Care (clinical, workforce & quality) in NHS England and Improvement.

A physiotherapist by profession, Aimee has held clinical, non-clinical, local and national roles.

Throughout her career, Aimee has championed the use of evidence-based medicine and quality improvement to deliver and continuously improve optimal and equitable healthcare for people, populations and systems. Recent work includes within a national role as Allied Health Profession (AHP) Clinical Advisor at NHS Improvement and regional implementation role in Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) national programme. A data geek at heart and with a love for improvement science, Aimee is passionate about supporting the healthcare workforce to demonstrate its transformative value and potential, to patients, services and organisations.

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The Allied Health Professions (AHPs) Strategy for England 2022 to 2027 AHPs Deliver

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The Allied Health Professions (AHPs) Strategy for England 2022 to 2027 AHPs Deliver

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The Refugee Council: Report on health gaps for refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants (Nov '21) 

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The Refugee Council: Report on health gaps for refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants (Nov '21) 

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Access to healthcare is one of our basic rights - we all accept that we cannot thrive unless our health needs are addressed and treated. Issues relatively trivial, like toothache, can have a profound impact on our health and well-being if they go untreated.

This is particularly important for refugees and people seeking asylum who have experienced unimaginable horrors on their route to seeking safety in the UK and often rely on access to health services to rebuild their lives here.

Providing holistic support to our clients has always been at the heart of our work. An important element includes providing our clients with support in relation to their health needs. As such, we have been one of the pioneers within the refugee sector, providing specialist mental health support to our clients, through our Therapeutic Service. Additionally, many of our clients present with complex health needs, however, they find it challenging to access health services and understand how the NHS works. We have set up a Health Access to Refugees Programme (HARP) project to empower people we work with to access the UK health system while also ensuring health services are better equipped to support them.

Barriers with access and need for action

Unfortunately, too often refugees face barriers to accessing even basic health services. There is, therefore, an urgent need for better provisions and cooperation between health professionals and relevant government departments so that those gaps are understood and addressed.

We know, through our direct work with people seeking asylum, that the asylum support model creates a degree of uncertainty and distress, and that people find it extremely challenging to access health services. They are often wrongly refused access to primary care, like GP registration, as well as routinely refused interpreting by GPs, dentists or even at the hospitals, even when this is essential to an understanding of their health problems. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted these and additional issues which our clients are facing when they require health assistance. Many of them are digitally excluded, don't have mobile phones (of if they do, they cannot afford top-up credit) or access to the internet which are instrumental in accessing health services and information, especially during lockdowns.

Although refugees have access to the mainstream health and support systems, they are often incorrectly refused secondary healthcare or are asked to pay upfront for assistance that is not urgent and immediately necessary. This often happens when the administration and medical staff are not familiar with refugees' rights and treat them as foreign visitors. Many of our female clients, who are pregnant, would not access antenatal care and eventually present themselves at the point of delivery. This is because they fear they will be charged or even detained and deported if they engage with health services, which they see as an extension of the work of the Home Office, tasked to blindly enforce immigration controls.

On top of the above issues, both refugees as well as people seeking asylum, face the consequences of the government's policy of hostile environment, which cascades to the health sector. Many of our clients are traumatised by their past experiences, some even experienced abuse and torture at the hands of medical professionals in their home country. It is, therefore, not surprising that they are already reluctant to approach health professionals. The current governmental approach goes against their agenda to level up and improve populations' overall health and well-being.

It is vital that access to health is free from immigration control and that there is a firewall between the Department of Health and Social Services and the Home Office on issues like patient data sharing. Harmful and populist rhetoric has a ripple effect, targeting refugees and people seeking asylum but also putting each one of us at risk when we look at this issue from a wider lens. We are living in a society with growing health inequalities and, as the experience of the pandemic proved already, we cannot afford to ignore the health needs of anyone in our society if we are truly all in this together.

How we address health inequalities

We know that providing health support through our service delivery is one of the ways in which we can assist our clients to have better health outcomes and make it easier for them to integrate. Our frontline experience and hearing directly from our clients allow us to identify and address those emerging issues through our advocacy and policy work.

We have worked on a range of resources that we hope are going to be useful to our clients, health professionals, NGO stakeholders and decision-makers in understanding barriers and seeking solutions so that refugees and people seeking asylum can access health support when they need it.

1. Refugee Council's policy note on health barriers - outlines the main issues our clients are experiencing when they access health services, including issues arising in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. PDF version.

2. Therapeutic IAHC Communication Card - a double-sided card with useful vocabulary and phrases with translations. It can be used to speed up and clarify communication about health problems with the doctor, nurse, reception staff, in the hospital, with people who work in supporting organisations and to members of the public; translated to five languages: Albanian, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Tigrinya.

3. Maternity guide for women on asylum support. Print version | PDF version.

4. Maternity guide for professionals. PDF version.

5. Films - we have produced five video films to share learning and good practice based on our experience of delivering the HARP project:

Film 1 - It is different over here: access to healthcare in the UK.

Film 2 - Experiencing the asylum process in the UK and impact on health.

Film 3 - Access to health for people seeking protection in the UK.

Film 4 - The right to be understood: the importance of interpreting.

Film 5 - Experts by Experience.

You can also view all the videos in our video hub: HARP video resources: accessing healthcare in the UK.

We like to thank the talented filmmaker, Pishdaad Monderessi, and Stand and Be Counted Theatre Company for making it possible to create those films.

Please refer to our resource and policy pages for more information.

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Healthcare for refugees: Where are the gaps and how do we help? - Refugee Council

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Why does access to healthcare matter? Access to healthcare is one of our basic rights - we all accept that we cannot thrive unless our health needs are addressed and treated. Issues relatively trivial, like toothache, can have a profound impact on our health and well-being if they go untreated.

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Presentation by Nicola McGarvey: Dementia Active Group with Sky Blues in the Community 

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Presentation by Nicola McGarvey: Dementia Active Group with Sky Blues in the Community 

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Contact list for our system speakers today 

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Contact list for our system speakers today 

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Lucy Edge's presentation: Criteria Led Discharge 

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Lucy Edge's presentation: Criteria Led Discharge 

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Hannah Stroude's Presentation: Sharing Best Practice in Primary Care 

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Hannah Stroude's Presentation: Sharing Best Practice in Primary Care 

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Eleanor Melvin's Presentation: Research Sponsorship from NIHR/HEE - Investigating the arts therapies and mental health of young people.

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Eleanor Melvin's Presentation: Research Sponsorship from NIHR/HEE - Investigating the arts therapies and mental health of young people.

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Paul Saunders' Presentation: An MDT approach to achieving top decile length of stay performance in elective arthroplasty.

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Paul Saunders' Presentation: An MDT approach to achieving top decile length of stay performance in elective arthroplasty.

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Ayesha Makadam's Presentation: Speech and Language Therapy Assistants Working in Schools

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Ayesha Makadam's Presentation: Speech and Language Therapy Assistants Working in Schools

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Becky Ransey's Presentation: Students experience of setting up placements in care homes 

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Becky Ransey's Presentation: Students experience of setting up placements in care homes 

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Sue Sampson's Presentation: Carriers of Hope 

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Sue Sampson's Presentation: Carriers of Hope 

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Caroline Higgin's Presentation: Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre

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Caroline Higgin's Presentation: Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre

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This is a fantastic conference showcasing the amazing work that AHPs do and contribute to across the ICS as well as networking with important charities & sectors.. well done to all organising, presenters & staff

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Really fantastic afternoon!
Enjoyed hearing how much AHPs are doing and feels like a true celebration of all the good work going on!
Inspirational speeches. Thank you very much for organising. Hannah

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A fantastic conference with an enormous amount of wonderful information about services we provide 

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A fantastic conference with an enormous amount of wonderful information about services we provide 

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Wow!!!

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Great variety of presentations today capturing just how amazing AHPs are and showcasing just how much we are contributing but also where we can still improve

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Liz Mather's Presentation: Green savings, project plan for the use of crutches 

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Liz Mather's Presentation: Green savings, project plan for the use of crutches 

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Liz Fitzhugh's Presentation: Saving Turtles, Sorting Waste

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Liz Fitzhugh's Presentation: Saving Turtles, Sorting Waste

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We have an evaluation form! Please let us know how you found the conference and what we can do to improve future events 

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We have an evaluation form! Please let us know how you found the conference and what we can do to improve future events 

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Abd's Salim's Presentation: Sharing my journey as an international applicant to becoming a Registered Dietitian with HCPC in the UK

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Abd's Salim's Presentation: Sharing my journey as an international applicant to becoming a Registered Dietitian with HCPC in the UK

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Jo Lyndon's Presentation: From Radiographer to Deputy COO - Tips for moving up 

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Jo Lyndon's Presentation: From Radiographer to Deputy COO - Tips for moving up 

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Bie Grobet's Presentation: Transferable skills in the AHP community 

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Bie Grobet's Presentation: Transferable skills in the AHP community 