Review identifies gap in provision of mental health care
A ‘SIGNIFICANT’ gap in the provision of mental health care for prisoners was identified by an analysis carried out by Public Health, but steps have already been taken towards addressing the problem.
The review was instigated by prison governor John de Carteret together with the director of hospital and adult community care services.
Overall it found that prisoners received an excellent level of healthcare and reported high levels of satisfaction from them with the health and care offering inside the prison.
‘Prisoners are generally fulfilled and supported to achieve their potential, with meaningful work, nutritious food, regular exercise, and opportunities to feed back and improve services,’ wrote Mr de Carteret in his annual report.
But as well as finding a significant gap in mental health provision, it also said there had been a lack of progress in the digitisation of medical records. These two areas were of concern, said the review.
It said that key to the recommendations were the need for more improvements in partnership working and communication both inside the prison, and between the prison and other services.
‘An agreed action plan is in place to meet the recommendations,’ said Mr de Carteret in the report.
He said yesterday that moves had already been made to address the situation.
‘We’ve recruited among the health care nurse and team nurses with a mental health background, so that’s improved things,’ he said.
There was also a relationship with the Community Drug and Alcohol Team.
But while some of the recommendations of the healthcare review were ‘quick wins’, others would need more time and input from elsewhere. ‘They will require some collaboration with other States departments.’
For example, the digitalisation of records was something that was part and parcel of the hospital development programme.
Mr de Carteret said he instigated the review to get an external perspective.
‘You should never be afraid of an independent audit, an independent scrutiny. It’s extremely important that you bring in a fresh pair of eyes to look at it to give you an objective view, based on the terms of reference, which enables you to improve your service.’
Prison amplified a lot of the problems facing the community, he said, and just because someone was in prison should not mean they did not have access to most of the other services that islanders were able to access.
