Healthcare and Forensics case management systems in police custody are commissioned separately by individual PCCs.
​
SONAR advocates that NHS England commissions a single medical case management system across all 42 forces.
Better outcomes,
reduced reoffending.
Prevention of Deaths and Serious Harm
Coroners can issue a Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Death Report to an individual, organisation, local authority or government department and its agencies where the coroner believes that action should be taken to prevent recurrence of further deaths in similar incedents.
​
There have been 20 coroners’ reports on police related deaths since October 2021. Of these, coroners raised concerns over poor recording or sharing of health information in five cases.
In one, coroner emphasised the value of sharing of health information between police forces and NHS organisations:
​
​
-
On 24th November 2019 Dorset Police officers attended upon Miss Clough at her home address in Dorset and transferred her to Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. A short time later she was discharged and left the hospital on foot to walk home. Following discharge she came into contact with Avon and Somerset Police officers who were not aware of her previous contact with Dorset Police or her admission to hospital. Evidence was given that had they been aware of this contact, it could have changed the way they checked upon Miss Clough that evening.
​
-
Greater sharing of information therefore between Police forces in England and Wales regarding the welfare of those who come into contact with the Police could prevent future deaths. Evidence was given that it would be wholly beneficial, both within the Police and the NHS, if systems were able to talk to one another. This would allow a wider understanding of the risk factors associated with an individual and it could prevent a future death if there was more information known about a person's vulnerability or risk. It would be beneficial to have a national system where healthcare trusts could access each other's records and another national system where Police Forces can access information re health and wellbeing.
​
​
The Angiolini Review
The Report of the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Custody, by Dame Elish Angiolini, was commissioned by the then Home Secretary Rt Hon Theresa May MP in July 2015 following two deaths in police custody. It looked at “the wide range of circumstances around deaths and serious incidents in police custody and of suicides occurring shortly after release from police custody”.
​
The review recommended that the NHS commission healthcare in police custody in order to provide a consistency of approach and allow access to necessary medical data:
​
“There has been advanced discussion and planning for medical services within police stations to be brought within the NHS, in the same way they are in prisons. This would allow for a consistency of approach across the forces in England, and also provide for minimum standards for medical staff within the police station, something that is potentially undermined by the current fragmented approach. Critically, it would also allow for rapid access to NHS medical records which would alert the doctor to underlying life threatening conditions that were not patent or volunteered by the detainee, such as diabetes or epilepsy.
NHS commissioning of healthcare in police custody was due to have commenced in April 2016, but was halted by the Government earlier in the year. This report strongly recommends that this policy is reinstated and implemented.”
NHS England Commissioning of Healthcare in Prisons
In 2013, responsibility for commissioning healthcare, including medical case management systems, was transferred to NHS England.
​
In 2019, the Health Select Committee said that the reform had been a “very positive change”.
​
In 2022, NHS Digital described the advantages of the current system:
​
-
patient records can be transferred between health/care and justice organisations.
-
records can be passed back to community NHS services when leaving the Justice System.
-
patients can register with a Justice healthcare team as their registered GP services for continuity of care.
-
access is provided to NHS Spine services such as Personal Demographics Service (PDS), Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and e-Referral Service (e-RS).