Centre for Mental Health

Sainsbury Centre offers 10 top tips for Primary Care Trusts on mental health of prisoners and offenders

3 June 2009

The NHS should be offering people with mental health problems more support when they are in the criminal justice system, according to a Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health guide for PCT boards, published today.

Commissioning mental health care in the criminal justice system: 10 top tips for PCT Boards sets out 10 questions primary care trust board members can ask to find out how well their PCT is serving prisoners and offenders in their area.

They ask if the PCT has commissioned a police and court diversion and liaison service and if it has designated 'places of safety' for people in need of urgent care away from police custody. They also ask about funding of prison mental health care, support for the most vulnerable offenders and resettlement for ex-prisoners.

Sainsbury Centre policy officer Max Rutherford said: "Every year, primary care trusts in England commission health care for an average of 500 prisoners, 1,000 community sentenced offenders and some 10,000 people who are arrested by the police. They include some of the most vulnerable and excluded members of each PCT's population. Most have mental health problems along with other difficulties yet few receive the care and support they need to get their lives back on track.

"The recent Bradley Report has laid down a massive challenge to the NHS to improve the quality of mental health care it offers to prisoners and offenders. Our 10 top tips for PCT boards offer primary care trusts a guide to how well they are doing already and where they need to focus their efforts to boost local services.

"We hope our guide will be used by PCT Boards across England to change the way they commission care for offenders and tackle one of the starkest health inequalities in our society today."

The Bradley Report was published on 30 April 2009. It called for comprehensive reforms to mental health care for offenders including the establishment of a Criminal Justice Mental Health team in every PCT and a 14-day limit for transfers from prison to hospital. It also called for health care in police custody to become the responsibility of the NHS.