Migrants staying in a hotel who were at the centre of a healthcare row will be getting treatment on the NHS after a furious public meeting.
Locals were originally told hundreds of illegal migrants could soon be getting access to ‘free private healthcare’, sparking a major debate.
Instead, health cover for the migrants staying at the Cresta Court Hotel in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, will be provided by not-for-profit provider GTD Healthcare, which stressed it did not provide private care and was being commissioned by the NHS.
The bombshell accusation of private healthcare was made during a fiery debate led by members of Trafford Council, in Greater Manchester, sparking an outcry of anger from local residents.
A spokeswoman has told the Mail: ‘With regards to the provision of NHS services at Cresta Court Hotel, I can confirm that GTD healthcare is in discussions with commissioners at NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board and local primary care providers regarding healthcare support over the winter period.’
The spokesperson added that while GTD Healthcare – known until 2008 as GoToDoc – is not part of the NHS, it only provides NHS-commissioned services and not private services.
It is employee-owned and runs 13 GP practices as well as urgent care centres.
Asylum seekers are entitled to free NHS care while their claims are assessed.
Rob Bellingham, chief officer for commissioning at NHS Greater Manchester, said: ‘We have a duty to secure the provision of safe and appropriate NHS care for people while their asylum claims are being managed.
‘NHS Greater Manchester has made arrangements with a local primary care provider to ensure asylum seekers who have arrived very recently receive the immediate care they need.’
Nathan Evans, Conservative group leader at the council, previously claimed asylum seekers housed at the hotel had been contracted to a private ‘doctors’ system’.
It comes after the hotel was abruptly converted into migrant accommodation for some 300 men, with the news only coming to light after thousands of bookings – including some wedding receptions – were cancelled without warning.
Speaking at a church meeting about the fiasco, worried locals voiced their fears about the migrants at the hotel and the impact they would have on the area’s ‘stretched’ health services.
‘They’re contracted with… a private doctors’ system,’ Councillor Evans told residents. ‘[That’s what] my understanding is. It’s not a statement of fact. That should mean they won’t be putting weight on our local [health services].’
The government has a legal requirement to provide migrants with healthcare treatment.
Health cover for the migrants staying at the Cresta Court will be provided by not-for-profit provider GTD Healthcare, which stressed it did not provide private care and was being commissioned by the NHS.
Footage of last week’s meeting has since been shared online.
Councillor Evans claimed he found out last week that the healthcare plan for migrants had been contracted out – as the Tory chief accused the Labour government of a ‘wall of silence’ over the situation.
It comes as Labour said it would stop hotels being used to house asylum seekers – although Cresta Court Hotel’s use is ‘newly created’, according to Sky News.
In the meeting, Cllr Evans went on to say he did not support housing single male migrants at the hotel, but that it ‘keeps them out of our doctors’ surgeries.
‘We just had our Minor Injuries Unit at Altrincham Hospital closed. We’ve now 300 people on our doorstep,’ he told Express.co.uk.
‘My understanding is that they are taking out a contract to support these people. Meanwhile, people here can’t get a doctor’s appointment.’
He added residents had been stonewalled by Whitehall, and claimed the move to house hundreds of migrants in the hotel had been a ‘ministerial decision’.
‘It’s not like this has happened by accident. Someone took this decision. People are worried about it,’ he said.
‘Residents don’t want them at the hotel, right in the centre of the town.’
Young men thought to be asylum seekers were pictured earlier this week gathering in the hotel car park, smoking and drinking coffee.
The decision to move migrants into Cresta Court has sparked a fierce debate locally.
During the church meeting, residents raised their fears about safety and blasted an ‘information vacuum’ and lack of prior consultation about the hotel’s conversion.
One woman, her voice shaking, questioned whether the hotel was ‘effectively an open prison’ near several local girls’ schools and a nursery, reported GB News.
She added she had already cancelled a night out with friends over safety worries.
Another person expressed concerns about her daughter’s safety at night, suggesting the men came from a country that ‘doesn’t value women’.
Gwyneth Roper, who hosted the church meeting, reportedly said: ‘I can’t say I agree or disagree with what’s going on because we’ve just been kept in the dark and treated like mushrooms.’
While one resident asked if there would be a curfew or whether the migrants would be free to wander around after 7pm.
Community police officer Colin Dytor, in comments quoted by Sky News, said: ‘We can’t just lock people up who haven’t committed a crime. We live in a very tolerant and open society, and we have to continue that.’
Connor Rand, Labour MP for Altrincham and Sale West, added that background checks had been conducted on the men by the Home Office.
A spokesman for Serco – which runs the hotel – claimed ‘no decision’ had been taken on ‘how healthcare will be provided to those’ at the site.
MailOnline has approached Trafford Council for further comment.
