Super Sponsor Scheme and Homes for Ukraine: guidance for local authorities

Psychological welfare and healthcare

Psychological welfare support

We have produced Psychological Advice Wellbeing Packs (see below) specifically aimed at providing wellbeing advice for the arrivals, and their host families as well as local services.

The pack aimed at displaced people has also been produced in an easy read format and has been translated into Ukrainian and Russian.

This information pack should be provided to all new arrivals at the welcome hubs in the most appropriate format/translation.

The pack aimed at host families should be made available by local authority re-settlement teams/third sector partners to every host family as part of their existing interactions.

The guidance aimed at services is to be used in conjunction with existing local authority processes and is designed to provide a general guide to supporting psychological wellbeing of both the refugees and host families.

When supporting refugees, the role of familiar community support is of paramount importance for refugees. Appropriate support from the extended family and Ukrainian community strengthens these families and reduces the negative effects of trauma.

It is recommended that any existing Ukrainian social connections are respected and are given due consideration within the family accommodation matching process. It is also recommended that Ukrainian refugees are not hosted in isolated areas on their own without the support of other Ukrainian families in the same local community. 

Related links

• Ukraine refugee psychological wellbeing pack: guidance for services

• Ukraine psychological wellbeing pack: guidance for host families

• Ukraine psychological wellbeing advice pack: guidance for Ukrainian arrivals

Healthcare access

Anyone in Scotland, regardless of nationality or residence status, can receive emergency treatment and register with a GP practice to receive general medical services at no charge.

An amendment to legislation means that anyone who is ordinarily resident in Ukraine, but lawfully present in the United Kingdom, regardless of the type of visa they hold, is eligible to access NHS secondary and tertiary services (such as maternity care, mental health services and specialist treatment for specific conditions) on the same basis as a person ordinarily resident in Scotland. The provision extends to the person’s spouse/civil partner and children.

Furthermore, the exemption from NHS charges also applies to people from Ukraine who were in the UK on a short-term visa when the conflict began on 24 February 2022, and are extending or switching visas because they cannot return home.

Health boards will have established protocols, working with Health and Social Care Partnerships and local authorities, to provide services to patients who are asylum seekers or refugees, as well as specific learning from both the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme and Afghan Relocation & Assistance Policy. 

As overarching principles, health boards will ensure that displaced people have access to a level of primary and secondary health care services designed to ensure that their health needs are identified and addressed appropriately and effectively.