Report on health outcomes of people in prison highlights dementia
A report has been published by Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice entitled: ‘The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England’.
The report by Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, aims to support professionals, practitioners and policymakers to improve the health outcomes of people in the criminal justice system.
The government say:
“On average, people in prison and on probation start from poorer physical and mental health than the general population, and the prison environment can exacerbate this. In addition, the prison population is aging, and age-related health problems which were once rare in prison, are becoming more common. There have been recent improvements in several areas of health provision for this population, delivered by healthcare and prison staff but there are also areas which can improve.”
Dementia has multiple mentions within the report, highlighting many of the challenges we are looking to address at Dementia Community through our Dementia in Prisons Special Interest Group. You can express an interest in joining this group here: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=IZZh__dof0G-BAfhI2qNtF1NRXSQVeFNplIc0Sn9Y2ZUQkg5UldSMTgxVUdJVjgyMkQyUkZNU0RIRSQlQCN0PWcu&origin=lprLink&route=shorturl
Read ‘The health of people in prison, on probation and in the secure NHS estate in England’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690b6f65c22e4ed8b0518515/full-report-chief-medical-officer-health-of-prisoners-accessible.pdf