Asylum seekers in the UK may receive private health care while officials decide if they can stay in the country.

Home Secretary David Blunkett wants new processing centres to have their own doctors and nurses so that local GP surgeries are not left unable to cope.

A Home Office spokeswoman said private health firms like Bupa may be brought in to treat asylum seekers.

The intention is to minimise the impact which the accommodation centres will have on local GPs

Lord Hunt

The move has prompted anger among those opposed to the asylum seeker accommodation centres planned by the government.

The Conservative MP for mid-Worcester, Peter Luff, warned that the move could create tensions.

His constituents in Throckmorton are currently challenging one of the planned detention centre.

"This policy will mean that asylum seekers will be given better facilities than locals," he told the Sunday Telegraph.

"The burden on the taxpayer will be huge."

Waiting lists

Sue Baxter, head of the action group fighting another proposed site in Bicester in Oxfordshire, told The Mail on Sunday that more than 90% of locals in the town could not afford private health care.

She told the paper: "We have to wait to see our own GP. I've been waiting eight months myself for some medical tests on the NHS."

Accommodation centres are planned to house refugees

The paper said that patients in villages near another proposed centre near Newton, Nottinghamshire, must wait at least four days to see their GP.

Health minister Lord Hunt raised the possibility of private health care for asylum seekers in a Parliamentary answer released as MPs broke for the summer.

"The intention is to minimise the impact which the accommodation centres will have on local GPs and other health services," he said.

"The on-site health care facilities will be provided under contract to the Home Office.

"Local GPs and other health services may be involved in the delivery of these services - alternatively, the on-site health care may be provided by other providers."

Hunger and poverty

The Home Office spokeswoman said that planning permission for the centres had still to be granted and the health care arrangements had yet to be finalised.

She said either local NHS staff or private firms could be used.

We should not supply better services to asylum seekers than we do to established British residents

Simon Hughes

"Ultimately it will be a decision for the contractors running the centres," she said.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said: "The issue is not the level of health care for asylum seekers but the level of health care for British citizens.

"If we had a health service that was structured in the right way, that delivered proper, fast health care for everybody in Britain, then this whole issue would not have arisen."

International obligations

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman, said there should not be rows about health care for asylum seekers.

"The big question is how we can process claims speedily, judge people fairly and ensure that those with real needs are looked after in a way that meets our international obligations," he said.

"We should not supply better services to asylum seekers than we do to established British residents. Both should receive the services they need."

Earlier this month Oxfam and the Refugee Council said asylum seekers in the UK were suffering unacceptable levels of poverty, hunger and poor health.

They said research of 40 organisations dealing with refugees found many could not afford to buy essential clothes or shoes.

Eighty per cent of the organisations said refugees were unable to maintain good health.