Innovative care for prisoners with special needs

WARRINGTON’S model of care for prisoners with special needs is to be shared across the country.
The government is keen to learn from the borough’s model of care for prisoners with complex needs.
Sarah McClinton, the Department of Health’s director for mental health, disability and dementia, visited HMP Risley to find out how NHS England, in conjunction with Warrington’s adult social workers and occupational therapists, have developed a care and support service for local prisoners.
Following a successful visit in January by Lyn Romeo, chief social worker, who praised Warrington’s innovative model in her annual report, Ms McClinton was keen to find out more about NHS England’s and the council’s social care provision for prisoners, a new duty for local authorities, introduced as part of the Care Act in April last year.
Ms McClinton was accompanied by Angela Hawley, the Department of Health’s Policy Lead for Youth Offender Health on the visit.
The visit was hosted by Simon Smith, NHS England Commissioner for health care in North West prisons.
Officers from the council’s families and wellbeing department, prison staff and staff from Bridgewater Community Healthcare explained to the visitors how they have been working together to implement the service, the positive outcomes achieved for those who have needed care and support, and what they have learned from their experience.
Ms McClinton, whose portfolio includes offender health and social care in prisons, said: “I was very keen to find out how NHS England in partnership with Warrington’s adult care service has improved both health and social care outcomes for prisoners, a year on from the introduction of the Care Act. I was particularly interested to learn about how social workers and occupational therapists are delivering care and support to prisoners in need in HMP Risley, and how they are working alongside prison staff  in an integrated way.
“I was impressed to see how successful the service has been in enabling prisoners with care needs, some quite complex, to be accommodated satisfactorily in a prison while serving their sentence. I am keen to spread the learning from this model to prisons up and down the land.”
Mike Glassbrook, community occupational therapist for HMP Risley, said: “We presented some case studies to the director to illustrate how we have been working with complex prisoners to achieve best practice, since the Care Act started. We also gave our recommendations with regard to dealing with the ageing prisoner population, based on our experiences in Warrington. It’s been fantastic to be able to develop this service
for prisoners.”
Pictured, from the left, Dave Savage, assistant governor, HMP Risley; Simon Smith NHS England commissioner for health care in North West prisons;  Angela Hawley, Department of Health’s policy lead for Youth Offender Health; Sarah McClinton Department of Health’s director for mental health, disability and dementia; Ellen Collyer, social worker, WBC;  Mike Glassbrook, community occupational therapist, WBC; Steve
Peddie, operational director adult services WBC;  Julie Smith, head of adult assessment and care management services, WBC;  and  Mark Hopkins from Bridgewater Healthcare.