The scene is not unusual: a doctor and nurse in a consulting room talk to a patient about her health concerns.

What is unusual is the setting. This consulting room is not in a health centre or doctor's surgery but the small back room of the cramped offices of a refugee advice centre in east London.

The outreach nurse who helps runs it, Annick Neilson, said though the location might not seem ideal it is the best place to reach their target clientele.

"This is somewhere that refugees come for support on a number of issues and it seemed to make sense to have this service here as well," she said.

Annick Neilson: "Clinic gives faster access to health care"

The advice centre is the type of place both the clinic's doctors are familiar with from personal experience. Both are refugees themselves.

One of them Faduma Hagi, a Somali, said her own experiences as an asylum seeker convinced her of the need for the service.

She said: "Even though I spoke the language I still had difficulties coping with the system especially the health system, finding out how it works.

"I feel helping the refugees by providing them with information makes it easier for them to access the health service."

Nihad Fathi, who qualified as a doctor in Tunisia, said as refugees themselves they had a better insight into their patients' problems.

"It is like you are walking in the same shoes.We experienced the same problems and we can see how things are difficult for us and how by supporting each other we can try to make things better for everyone."

'Serving the community'

Although they practiced medicine in their own countries Dr Hagi and Dr Fathi are not yet qualified to work as doctors in the UK.

They are officially lay health advisers working along the outreach nurse at the clinic which is funded by Redbridge and Waltham Forest Health Authority.

"I started here because it's something as a doctor I could do, because we are not allowed to practice, so this is the one way we can deliver a service for the community," said Dr Fathi.

Dr Fathi said their experiences had left many asylum seekers with mental health problems and some also suffered the after-effects of torture.

Refugees and asylum seekers are a source of talent which can help this country Dr Nihad Fathi

"Sometimes they won't tell you they've been tortured they feel ashamed and try to forget it.

"Some of them have seen family members raped or murdered in cold blood.

"They feel they just want to get away but the memories are still with them," he said.

The clinic has also unveiled other health problems present in asylum seeker communities such as the side effects of female circumcision which is still practiced in some African countries.

Dr Hagi now holds weekly sessions for such women at a separate women's advice clinic.

Access problems

Most of the clinic's patients are asylum seekers living in the area but some also come from neighbouring districts like Newham and Hackney and some from as far away as Camden in north London.

Dr Nihad Fathi: "Refugees are a source of talent"

Ms Neilson said: "People have great difficulties understanding how our system works and how to access it, especially in areas where there are already issues about inadequate supplies of GPs and school places.

"So they're competing with people already living in areas of deprivation and that just makes things harder for people

She said their service meant asylum seekers no longer had to traipse from doctor to doctor trying to get registered.

"We refer people directly to the health authority and they're allocated a GP, that process generally takes a couple of weeks so what we do is assess people here.

"If their health needs are such that they can wait for a week or two before they're allocated a GP then that's fine, if they have an urgent health need then we try and fast track them into whatever service they need," she added.

'Source of talent'

It can take several years for a refugee to pass the language and practical exams necessary to apply to the General Medical Council for permission to work as a doctor.

Dr Fathi hoped his work at the clinic would help him with his application and believes the skills of many more qualified refugees should be tapped into.

"Refugees and asylum seekers are a source of talent which can help this country and I feel we should use this resource and not waste it.

"Because if we lose this resource we are going to suffer and if we use them it will help integrate the asylum seekers as well as providing a service," he said.