NHS England South - Pilot for Healthcare Services in Reading Magistrates Court

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Advert for Pilot for Reading Criminal Courts Healthcare From 2013 the legal responsibility for commissioning healthcare in criminal courts became the responsibility of NHS England. The commissioning of Court settings healthcare is a legal requirement and to properly commission this healthcare a full and comprehensive national Health Needs Analysis (HNA) was carried out by NHS England Health and Justice Commissioning in 2018. The national HNA for court healthcare identified there is a high level of physical health need amongst detainees in court custody across both Magistrates' and Crown Courts. The HNA demonstrates, the need is most acute and most likely to be unmet in the Magistrates' Court cells. The HNA also identified issues with substance misuse, withdrawal, and intoxication. The pilot will set out to demonstrate the effectiveness of a full equitable NHS-type care pathway across the whole of the Thames Valley criminal justice journey. It will endeavour to show reduction in risk to detained people and an improvement in the times to process detained people through reception at HMP Bullingdon. It will serve to inform the development of service specifications for court healthcare and outline the benefits to prisoner safety and continuity of healthcare. The main thrust of healthcare provision in this context should be towards assessment and triage of clinical needs, to ensure continuity of care and unmet and unknown need is identified and suitably managed. All patients received into custody will therefore require an assessment. Some individuals will be at 'high risk' - because of serious chronic illness e.g. insulin dependency or other acute problems such as substance intoxication or withdrawal. In such cases healthcare provision will be directed towards minimising harm - while being realistic about what is possible in a custody suite. The 2018 Health Needs Assessment (HNA) highlighted the problem of patients arriving into custody without essential medications. Key 'rescue' drugs could be kept in stock and/or dispensed by a local pharmacy on an emergency basis when medication is essential. A suitably-qualified practitioner will be essential for the service to be effective. It will also be important that the Healthcare clinician develop a close working relationship with their PECS, L&D and HMCTS colleagues on duty in the courts. The core elements of the service include: • Assess and triage those coming into court custody. • Provide a continuation of current, new and detoxing medication to keep them safe until they arrive in prison • Promote healthcare and referrals to prison healthcare providers • Where possible access Summary Care Records and Mental Health records • Improve the links between police healthcare and prison healthcare and alert the prison about the needs of those who will be arriving into reception prior to arrival.