Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:21 am
Time: 2:21 am
Results for older prisoners
1 results foundAuthor: Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for England and Wales Title: Learning from PPO Investigations: Older Prisoners Summary: This report is a thematic review of our investigations into naturally-caused deaths of prisoners over 50. It reviews 314 investigations over 2013-2015, and offers 13 lessons on six areas where we frequently make recommendations following investigations into deaths in custody of older prisoners. The six areas it examines in depth are: healthcare and diagnosis; restraints; end of life care; family involvement; early release; and dementia and complex needs. We also offer one good practice case study. With respect to healthcare and diagnosis, this publication offers lessons on both continuity and coordination of care. We offer case studies that illustrate the importance of health screenings for newly arrived prisoners, following NICE guidelines and, where possible, we suggest that prisoners with ongoing health concerns should see the same doctor. This publication also includes case studies showing the recommendations we make about restraining old or infirm prisoners, and reiterates much of the guidance we have issued in past publications. Namely, we expect that risk assessments should be proportionate to the actual risk posed by the prisoner, given his or her health condition; that input from healthcare staff should be meaningfully and seriously considered; and that risk assessments should be reviewed in line with changing health conditions. We also offer lessons about palliative and end of life care - something prisons increasingly have to deal with. Here, we acknowledge it is not only prisoners who are ageing - often our facilities are older and not designed to adequately accommodate disability or palliative care needs. We recommend that prisons try to ensure the terminally ill are treated in a suitable environment. We also identify a lesson to improve healthcare coordination at the end of life, by ensuring that care plans are initiated at an appropriate, and ideally early, stage for those who are diagnosed with a terminal illness. We offer two lessons with respect to family involvement. We acknowledge that prisoners are not always in contact with their families, nor do their families always want to be in contact with them. In this publication, we recommend that, with the consent of the prisoner and their family, trained family liaison officers involve families in end of life care, and notify next of kin promptly when a prisoner is taken to the hospital. Further, we recommend that family liaison officers are nominated as soon as possible after the prisoner's serious or terminal diagnosis. We identify two lessons with respect to early release of terminally ill prisoners - one that suggests prisons should appoint an appropriate contact to ensure applications for early release are properly progressed, and another that, similar to our lessons for restraints, recommends risk assessments be contextual and based on the actual risk the prisoner poses, taking into account their current health condition. Finally, as the older population in prisons increases in both size and proportion, we are finding more cases where the prisoner is diagnosed with, or showing signs of dementia. This is occasionally compounded with other social, mental, or physical needs, which can make these cases particularly complex to deal with. In this section, we elaborate more on this, and offer two lessons that might help prisons to better care for and manage prisoners with dementia and complex needs. Overall, we hope that these lessons, along with an example of good practice in end of life care in prison, will help prisons deal better with this demographic change Details: London: The Ombudsman, 2017. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 16, 2017 at: http://www.ppo.gov.uk/app/uploads/2017/06/6-3460_PPO_Older-Prisoners_WEB.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.ppo.gov.uk/app/uploads/2017/06/6-3460_PPO_Older-Prisoners_WEB.pdf Shelf Number: 146785 Keywords: Deaths in CustodyElderly InmatesOlder Prisoners |