Improving healthcare in adult probation services: Learning from Youth Offending Teams
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02645505211070088 |
| Author | Charlie Brooker,Beth Collinson,Coral Sirdifield |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
Improving healthcare in
adult probation
services: Learning from
Youth Offending Teams
Charlie Brooker
Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Beth Collinson
University of Sheffield, UK
Coral Sirdifield
University of Lincoln, UK
Abstract
This article reviews the development of the healthcare provision in youth offending
teams (YOTs), and the implications of this for improving provision for adults super-
vised by probation. The Crime and Disorder Act (1998)made healthcare funding
a statutory requirement in YOTs, and healthcare presence in most YOTs was signifi-
cantly boosted by the collaborative commissioning initiative. There is no parallel com-
missioning initiative in adult probation services. Only a small proportion of NHS
clinical commissioning groups make specific investment for this population. Pockets
of healthcare provision in probation settings exist, but not consistently. We argue
that this represents a major social inequality.
Keywords
commissioning, healthcare, criminal justice, youth offending, probation
Corresponding Author:
Charlie Brooker, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
Email: Charlie.brooker@rhul.ac.uk
Article The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2023, Vol. 70(3) 261–278
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211070088
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
Background
Health outcomes for children and young people in contact with the youth justice
system are poorer than those for children and young people in the general popula-
tion (Public Health England, 2019). Similarly, whilst arguably there is a need for
more research into the health needs of adults under probation supervision, existing
research shows that the prevalence of many health needs is higher in this population
than in adults in the general population (Brooker et al., 2012; Newbury-Birch et al.,
2009; Pari et al., 2012; Phillips et al., 2018; Pluck and Brooker, 2014; Revolving
Doors Agency, 2017; Sattar, 2003). Addressing health needs has been identified
as a means of supporting desistance in both youth and adult populations.
Consequently, to reduce health inequalities and (re)offending, it is important that
individuals in the health and justice field have a detailed understanding of the
health needs of these groups and any gaps in healthcare provision, or barriers to
accessing provision, and are supported to work in partnership to ensure that the
needs of these populations are met.
In this article, we first present a brief overview of the history of the development of
youth offending teams (YOTs) in England and Wales, as detailed in policy and
research papers, and in particular, the role of health workers within them. We
then present findings from a study that provides an up-to-date picture of the extent
of Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) funded health workers in YOTs in
England, and managers’descriptions of the role and its impact. Finally, we consider
how learning from developments in healthcare provision in YOTs could be applied
to support the ambitions of the probation service in England and Wales to improve
the health of adults under their supervision.
The history of the health worker role
Youth offending teams were established in the period 1998–2000 following the
enactment of the Crime and Disorder Act (see Her Majesty’s Stationery Office,
1998). The Act made it the responsibility of each local authority to formulate
and implement a youth justice plan, which inter alia, would clarify the aims,
objectives and funding for a youth offending team. The legislation made it
clear that there was a basic minimum required for the composition of the YOT
and the following members were enshrined in the law: an officer of a local pro-
bation board; a person nominated by the local clinical commissioning group; a
person with experience of social work; a person with experience of education
and a policeman. Thus, from the earliest establishment of YOTs there was a
legislative requirement for at least one health worker to be a member of the
YOTs.
The official role and function of YOTs
The role and function of YOTs has developed and now, in England and Wales, it is a
multi-agency team that is managed within Local Authorities, with the Youth Justice
262 Probation Journal 70(3)
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