Transnational healthcare as process: multiplicity and directionality in the engagements with healthcare among Polish migrants in the UK

Drawing on a mix-methods study comprised of an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, this article presents findings about the complexity and development in time of health service use by Polish migrants living in the United Kingdom. The article contributes to the analysis of transnational healthcare practices by operationalising a framework that considers service access within and beyond national borders, and between private and public sectors. By categorising engagements with healthcare providers based on their occurrence in time it argues for an understanding of transnational healthcare as a process. It finds that Polish migrants manage their health by accessing a variety of different providers. This complexity is also reflected in the multiple ways in which access to services with regards to specific health issues unfolds in time. By focusing the analysis on specific health issues rather than individuals the article finds that multiple ways to access healthcare services coexist for the same participant, who does not necessarily move towards particular healthcare providers unitarily, but adopts ad hoc solutions on the basis of their experiences within specific medical areas. Understanding migrants’ patterns of accessing healthcare can contribute to more effective policy solutions supporting migrants in the UK today.

Poland, United Kingdom, migration, transnational healthcare, transnationalism

10.1080/1369183X.2021.1941820

1369-183X

1998–2017

Troccoli, Giuseppe

03b6b60b-d848-4714-bf14-8ffd25a88e09

Moreh, Chris

3c135c8e-21b5-4c84-9e05-5b3b1c3f057b

McGhee, Derek

76b124cb-e0af-4cfa-8c7e-a48ded8003a9

Vlachantoni, Athina

06a52fbb-f2a0-4c81-9fbc-d6efc736c6cb

21 June 2021

Troccoli, Giuseppe

03b6b60b-d848-4714-bf14-8ffd25a88e09

Moreh, Chris

3c135c8e-21b5-4c84-9e05-5b3b1c3f057b

McGhee, Derek

76b124cb-e0af-4cfa-8c7e-a48ded8003a9

Vlachantoni, Athina

06a52fbb-f2a0-4c81-9fbc-d6efc736c6cb

Troccoli, Giuseppe, Moreh, Chris, McGhee, Derek and Vlachantoni, Athina (2021) Transnational healthcare as process: multiplicity and directionality in the engagements with healthcare among Polish migrants in the UK. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48 (9), 1998–2017. (doi:10.1080/1369183X.2021.1941820).

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Accepted/In Press date: 9 June 2021

e-pub ahead of print date: 21 June 2021

Published date: 21 June 2021

Additional Information: Funding Information: This article is concerned with advancing the analytical tools in the analysis of what is conceptualised as transnational healthcare by forwarding the understanding of health practices of Polish migrants in the United Kingdom. These have been previously analysed without considering them as processes that unfold in time dynamically. We fill this gap by addressing three questions. What is the extent of the use of different healthcare services by Poles living in the United Kingdom? How does the use of services change in time? How can we best analyse the complexity of service use within time? We answer these questions by presenting qualitative and quantitative results of a UK-wide mix-methods study on the preferences and experiences in accessing healthcare services in the UK and Poland of adult Poles in the UK. By ceasing to be Polish residents, migrants cannot be insured in the National Health Fund (NFZ) which grants them access to publicly funded healthcare in Poland. During their visits to Poland, they can access public services in case of emergency and they might be able to formally access some public services before their change of residence becomes official, after which they are able to use private services only. By becoming residents of the United Kingdom, they gain access to the British public healthcare system, the National Healthcare Service (NHS). Within the UK they have also access to private services, including those provided by clinics targeting Polish costumers and staffed with Polish professionals. We formulate an understanding of the health-seeking behaviours of this population by operationalising a transnational healthcare analytical framework. Our main contribution consists in proposing an analysis of transnational healthcare built upon the distinctions between public/private and national/transnational healthcare providers which considers the shifts in time between these services. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords: Poland, United Kingdom, migration, transnational healthcare, transnationalism