Justice vision and priorities delivery plan 2018-2019 and overview of progress 2017-2018

Priority 4

We will work with others to improve health and wellbeing in justice settings, focusing on mental health and substance use.

Key Achievements by Priority in 2017/18

• A new Health and Justice Collaborative Improvement Board was established, bringing together leaders from across the sectors.
• An international evidence review into collaborative police and health interventions to better support people in mental health distress was published by the SG in August 2018. https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00537517.pdf
• Local Police Scotland divisions continue to work with key NHS locality partners to develop effective Community Triage. Police Scotland also begun a new collaboration with NHS and Scottish Ambulance Service to deploy additional Mental Health professionals in the NHS24 environment.
• The development of Distress Brief Intervention ( DBI) pilots continued, the initial results of which were encouraging. Full implementation is now underway and independent evaluation arrangements are in place.
• Work by Justice partners and the NHS continued to address problematic alcohol use via the delivery of Alcohol Brief Interventions ( ABIs) in police custody.
• Our forthcoming alcohol and drugs strategy will ensure that wider health and social needs are taken into account as part of people's treatment and support, with publication planned for Autumn 2018.
• A Health and Social Care in Prisons Programme Board was established in February 2018, chaired by the SG Director of Population Health, to improve the delivery of health and social care services for people in prison and for those returning from prison to their communities.
• A new £100,000 improvement fund was launched in June 2018 to support partnerships between prison staff and healthcare professionals to improve prisoner healthcare.
• We deepened our shared understanding of Adverse Childhood Experiences ( ACE's) across justice and are shaping our future responses in collaboration with partners, including trauma- informed responses and training. http://gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535550.pdf
• The Deputy First Minister hosted an event on ACEs in March 2018. This was participated in by Ministers from across government and key stakeholders, to reflect on progress and discuss next steps. /publications/adverse-childhood-experiences-aces-ministerial-event
• In March 2017, the Scottish Government established a Taskforce, under the leadership of the Chief Medical Officer, to drive improvements in the provision of healthcare and forensic medical services for adults and children who have experienced rape and sexual assault.
  • Funding was provided for NHS Education Scotland ( NES) to develop and roll-out their trauma-informed "Introduction to Sexual Offences Examinations" course across Scotland.
  • Justice partners supported the development of Healthcare Improvement Scotland's National Standards for Healthcare and Forensic Medical Services in December 2017. (Also priority 6.)
  • £2.25m of funding was provided to embed the new standards and improve healthcare and forensic medical facilities for those who have experienced rape and sexual assault.

We will prioritise the development of our interventions and services across the justice system for those experiencing mental health or addiction problems and those experiencing distress. We will work in collaboration with the NHS and other partners in design and delivery.

New Activity for 2018/19

• A smoke free environment will be implemented across Scotland's prison estate from November 2018.
• Work will progress to improve the provision of health and social care services for people in prison including with improved clinical IT systems in prisons to make services safer and more efficient.
• Further action will be taken to improve contact between parents in prison and their children to support positive attachment.
• Legislation will be introduced for new drug driving limits covering 17 different drug types to improve the safety of our roads.
• The CMO Taskforce will continue to lead work with Health Board Nominated Leads and other key partners, to develop fully costed proposals for trauma informed, person centred forensic medical and healthcare services across Scotland.
• We will consult on proposals to clarify in legislation the responsibility for forensic medical examinations to ensure that access to healthcare, as well as a forensic medical examination for victims of rape and sexual assault, is a NHS priority and consistently provided for throughout Scotland.
• We will continue to work with others, such as NHS Education Scotland, to achieve a gender balance of professionals trained to undertake forensic medical examinations so that where a victim requests the specific gender of the forensic examiner involved in their care, this can be met.
• Police Scotland, SFRS and the Scottish Ambulance Service will continue to work closely as the Blue Light Collaboration Group to share key data, identify vulnerability, and to focus on preventative work and joint response models.