Service User Engagement in Prison Mental Health In‐reach Service Development
| Pages | 21-24 |
| Published date | 01 June 2006 |
| Date | 01 June 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200600016 |
| Author | Rob Jayne |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Service User Engagement
in Prison Mental Health
In-reach Service Development
Rob Jayne
Acting Programme Manager for Health
and Social Care in Criminal Justice
Eastern Development Centre
Focus on…
he prison is making people more ill by
the way it is run.’
This article commences with an apologia. It is written
from the perspective of a professional involved in
supporting the delivery of health and social care
services to offenders requiring such interventions. It is
axiomatic that the author cannot provide a
representative view of the attitudes and opinions of
this specific sub group of the population. However,
the following observations and commentary are
offered from a platform of advocacy for increased and
sustained service user involvement in the
development of health and social care services for
offenders. The only qualification that the author
brings to this particular discussion is, to quote
Anthony Sheehan, director of care services, that he is
‘offended by disadvantage’.
The evidence regarding offenders’ health needs
emphatically and continually demonstrates that this
population experiences significant health and social
care inequalities (Singleton et al, 1998; Brooker et al,
2003). It can still be considered to be one of the most
disadvantaged in our modern, enlightened and
civilised society.
It is now five years since the responsibility for
prison healthcare started to be transferred from the
prison service to the NHS (Department of Health,
2000; 2003) One aspect of this initiative, the
programme of establishing the mental health ‘in-
reach’ component of integrated healthcare for
prisoners (Department of Health, 2001), has advanced
‘T
to the stage where the majority of the prisons in
England have an established mental health service.
The programme has brought with it an attendant
commitment to service user engagement in
developing services, as recommended in the National
Service Framework for Mental Health (Department of
Health, 1999).
As the programme has progressed, service user
involvement has been supported throughout the
initiative from national strategic and policy planning,
through regional collaborative developmental work, to
local service operational planning and delivery of
clinical services. Service user involvement in planning
policy occurs, or is sought, at most national programme
boards involved in offender health and social care
service development. At the regional level it is
established or is being enabled through the
stakeholder advisory groups of regional development
centres. Collaboration and consultation with other key
representative groups, such as an ‘Experts by
Experience’ forum, also contribute to this agenda.
Users of mental health services who have, or have
had, involvement with the criminal justice system are
obviously not a homogeneous group of individuals.
Their experiences will be varied, with multiple
narratives that underlie a range of attitudes and
opinions regarding the delivery of services. The means
by which such representatives become engaged with
service development are equally diverse, as shown by
the following example of a two-day workshop for
prison mental health in-reach service development in
October 2003. Some of the service users involved were
The Mental Health Review Volume 11 Issue 2 June 2006 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2006 21
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