- Graham Jones and Sarah Mainwaring, South Yorkshire Probation Trust
Minutes:
David Pidwell, South Yorkshire Probation Trust, reported on the work of the Trust which was nationally recognised as 1 of the best performing Trusts in the country, together with Malc Chiddy, Drug Intervention, Public Health. They drew attention to the following:-
- The Probation Service was 1 of 35 probation trusts within England and Wales that were part of the National Offender Management Service
- There was now a Commissioning structure a direct result of which was a new regional service for those diagnosed with personality disorder. Leeds Health Trust had won the contract for South Yorkshire so there would be 2 forensic psychologists working directly for the Trust
- Recognition that offender health had been too narrowly defined for too long. It was often thought that Offender Health focussed around Doncaster and the prison cluster forgetting that the vast majority of offenders were managed in the community; there would now be funding available through that route in due course
- There were approximately 2,000 offenders in Rotherham in addition to those under the Youth Offending Service
- Some things worked very well in Rotherham such as the Court Diversion Scheme.
- The Criminal Justice Board was to hold a conference on 20th May, 2013
- Had to recognise that offenders also caused ill health and emotional distress to their victims
- Evidence showed that re-offending rates correlated to poor health status. They were users of health services via Accident and Emergency or inpatient treatment the cost of which may be better met through the GP route
- A local initiative called Offender Health Services to be developed with the Applied Health Research and Care Department from Sheffield Hallam University over the next 12 months
- The Lord Bradley report was the most recent report focussing on offender health, in the main on Mental Health and Learning Difficulties – approximately 90% of offenders had some form of psychiatric disorder
- In Rotherham an Offender Health Steering Group had been established to consider the 82 recommendations of the Bradley report, a snapshot of what was already available and what could be done. Funding had been secured to support the Youth Offending Service, to provide over 200 places for Mental Health training for front line service staff and funding to try and put services in the Custody Suite to train Drug Intervention staff on Learning Difficulties and Mental Health issues. The fund had now ended
- The Government was still committed to every Custody Suite in the country having some kind of identification for Mental Health and Learning Difficulties at point of arrest by December, 2014
- Since the Bradley report, there had been a change in Government and little emphasis has been placed on its importance
- Rotherham had trained its staff and separate assessments were to be carried out if it was thought they were required for drug/alcohol clients but it had not been required as yet
- Work was ongoing in Rotherham as it did not have a suitable Adult Service for vulnerable adults when they came into custody
- The Mental Health Team, although reduced in numbers, were still in contact with the Police
- Currently the Police Service commissioned the Mental Health Service but it had always been a concern that the Police did not have the knowledge or expertise to commission such a service and would be better for the Trust to do the commissioning
David and Malc were thanked for their report.
(Councillor Wyatt declared a personal interest in the above as he was a Non-Executive Director of the Trust)