Author:
Forrester Andrew,Singh Jagmohan,Slade Karen,Exworthy Tim,Sen Piyal
Abstract
Purpose
– Prison mental health in-reach teams (MHITs) have developed in England and Wales over the last decade. Services have been nationally reviewed, but detailed descriptions of their work have been scarce. The purpose of this paper is to describe the functions of one MHIT in a busy, ethnically diverse, male remand prison in London, UK.
Design/methodology/approach
– Clinical and demographic data were collected for prisoners referred to the MHIT using a retrospective design over an 18-week period in 2008/2009 (n=111).
Findings
– Foreign national prisoners and sentenced prisoners were significantly under-referred. Most referrals were already known to community mental health services, although around a quarter accessed services for the first time in prison. Around a third presented with self-harm/suicide risks. Substance misuse problems were common. Although the MHIT had evolved systems to promote service access, prisoner self-referrals were limited.
Practical implications
– Foreign national prisoners require enhanced investment to improve service access. MHITs identify people with mental disorders for the first time in prisons, but better screening arrangements are needed across systems. An evaluation of multiple MHIT models could inform a wider delivery template.
Originality/value
– One of the first ground-level evaluations of MHITs in England and Wales.
Subject
Health Professions (miscellaneous)
Reference43 articles.
1. Armitage, C.
and
Fitzgerald, C.
(2003), “Prison in-reach mental health nursing”, Nursing Standard, Vol. 27 No. 26, pp. 40-2.
2. Banerjee, S.
,
O'Neill-Byrne, K.
,
Exworthy, T.
and
Parrott, J.
(1995), “The Belmarsh Scheme. A prospective study of the transfer of mentally disordered remand prisoners from prison to psychiatric units”, The British Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 166 No. 6, pp. 802-5.
3. Barnoux, M.
and
Wood, J.
(2013), “The specific needs of foreign national prisoners and the threat to their mental health from being imprisoned in a foreign country”, Aggression and Violent Behavior, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 240-6.
4. Berman, G.
(2012), “Prison population statistics – House of Commons Library”, available at: www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04334.pdf (accessed 19 December 2013).
5. Bolton, L.B.
,
Giger, J.N.
and
Georges, C.A.
(2004), “Structural and racial barriers to health care”, Annual Review of Nursing Research, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 39-58.
Cited by
13 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献