CONTEMPORARY AND DIVERSE MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Contemporary and Diverse Mental Health Care



Contemporary and Diverse Mental Health Care

Introduction

Forensic mental health services play a very important part in the diversion process, particularly diverting people away from, or out of, prison. Forensic services provide secure detention in special hospitals with an emphasis on care and treatment rather than punishment. Information about forensic services is, however, only obtainable in parts, and for a complete understanding the information needs to be drawn from many different sources. As a result, the level of political and public awareness is often low, and debate is therefore infrequent and poorly informed. This document pulls together the key facts and figures to raise awareness and inform debate. This paper analyses the impact of staff sickness/stress towards patients in a male rehabilitation unit in forensic for the psychiatry of working age adultscare they are receivingpolicy documents.

Sainsbury Centre Forensic Mental Health Services

The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health believes that effective diversion for the many prisoners who would benefit from treatment for mental illness outside the criminal justice system is of high importance. Diversion can ensure that people with mental health problems who offend are treated in the best and most appropriate settings available. It can also help to reduce the rising custodial population and the increasing re-offending rates for those leaving prison, both of which will help to protect the public and save money that would otherwise be spent on reconvictions.

The number of people in prison with mental health problems is extremely high. Studies have shown that the prevalence of mental illness is so great that it affects as many as nine out of every ten prisoners (Singleton et al., 1998). The government has acknowledged that 'we continue to imprison too many people with mental health problems' (Home Office 2006a, p. 26) at the same time; the prison population has risen to unprecedented levels. It reached a record high of 81,106 at the end of May 2007 (Home Office 2007a, p. 5).

While the prison population has risen apace in the last decade, so has that of forensic services. The number of people detained in forensic services has increased year on year for more than a decade, rising from 2,650 in 1997 to nearly 4,000 by July 2007. In addition, the number of people newly transferred into forensic services is increasing every year, despite long delays in transfers from prison to secure hospitals. The forensic services population rose by 45 per cent in the ten years between 1996 and 2006. Most people in forensic services are young adult males, but there is a higher average age than in the prison estate. Women comprise one-in-eight of the forensic service population; twice their proportion of the prison population. While the majority of people detained in forensic services are held for five years or less, more than a quarter are detained for over ten years. Offence types are mixed, but nearly half are detained for violent or sexual ...