London: Thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being spent investigating the psychological state of asylum seekers — triggering furious complaints by some mental health campaigners who have seen their own budgets stretched.

Refugees held in Dover are being asked questions such as “do you hear voices?” by NHS staff.

Saturday night one campaigner said that the news — at a time when mental health provision for the rest of the town is becoming severely strained — made her “blood boil”.

A local MP added it was “yet another” drain on resources caused by a malfunctioning immigration system.

The NHS staff have gone into the Dover Immigration Removal Centre, which is run by the prison service to hold failed asylum seekers while the authorities attempt to deport them back to their native countries.

The centre, which is housed on a site fortified since Roman times, holds 300 people. Most are removed after two months, but some stay for substantially longer if they mount a legal challenge to the decision. The centre says its purpose “shall be to provide for the secure but humane accommodation of detained persons in a relaxed regime with as much freedom of movement and association as possible … while respecting in particular their dignity and right to individual expression”.

Dr Al Aditya Khan, who is in charge of the project for the Oxleas NHS Trust, says the aim of the scheme is to identify occupants who “hear voices or have abnormal beliefs”, and ensure those who do have access to professional help.

But Tracy Carr, of Talk It Out, a support group in Dover, said locals with mental health problems resented the fact that more money was being ploughed into the centre while they struggled to receive the help that they needed.

“It makes my blood boil that money is being spent in this way when provision for locals is so overstretched,” she said. And she revealed there was a growing problem with “crisis teams” — health professionals who are called if a patient is deemed to be at risk of self-harm and are expected to react quickly.

“I have three or four members of my group who have recently had to call out the crisis team and it’s been hours before they came. I worried it would be too late,” she said. “It has definitely got worse in the last two or so years. I’ve had first-hand experience of these situations and it feels as if no one cares.”

Other critics say conditions in the centre are harsh, with some detainees forced to sleep six to a room.

Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover, said: “Already millions are wasted keeping asylum claimants in detention for years. This is yet another waste of taxpayers’ money. Many asylum claimants eat their papers to hide where they are from. The cash would be better spent tracking down where people are from and speeding up the asylum claim and deportation process.”

A spokesman for Oxleas NHS Trust said: “As part of our contract with NHS England, we are commissioned to provide mental health services to prisons across Kent including the Dover Immigration Removal Centre. Part of this includes contributing research to the national evidence base.”