Health and Justice Services

MPFT is working in partnership with North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust for the provision of the Integrated Offender Health Service (IOH) in Staffordshire. MPFT also delivers IOH services across West Mercia and the Black Country.

Individuals who come into contact with the health and justice system often have complex and enduring health and social care needs. The IOH service aims to provide a seamless service to individuals who come into contact with the Health and Justice Services. IOH staff assess an individual’s needs and vulnerabilities and recommend appropriate support that is responsive to an individual’s needs. IOH staff will support individuals to access appropriate treatment/ support to address their identified needs and help people navigate their way through health and criminal justice services.

Individuals may be referred into the IOH service at several points during their contact with criminal justice services, including at the point of suspicion of an offence (known as an ‘allegation’). In some cases, individuals are not charged and no further action is taken by Criminal Justice Agencies. However, the IOH service will continue to work with the individual regardless of criminal justice outcome if there have been vulnerabilities or needs identified. 

Individuals will also be able to access support from IOH service via:

• Police custody
• Court (Magistrates and Crown)
• Community
• On release from prison

Integrated Offender Management (IOM) aims to bring a cross-agency response to crime and reoffending threats faced by local communities. The service works with the police, Probation and other partner agencies to support individuals and to reduce reoffending and make communities safer.

The service works with our wider Integrated Offender Health teams and primary and secondary mental health teams to ensure effective assessment, care planning and treatment plans are in place for individuals.

MPFT delivers four OPD Community Specification services in partnership with Probation Service colleagues. These cover South Staffordshire, West Mercia, Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

The services are delivered by teams of Applied Psychologists and Specialist Probation Officers who work closely with local Probation services to identify and support individuals with a personality disorder who have come into contact with criminal justice services through caseload screening methods; case consultations and case formulations, including recommendations for treatment interventions and risk management.

The OPD teams also deliver training for Probation staff in relation to the needs of this group of individuals and are involved in initiatives to support staff health and wellbeing. MPFT also works in partnership with Probation staff to deliver Psychologically Informed Planned Environments (PIPE) in approved premises in Birmingham and Leicester.

This team provides two pathways of work and consists of Health support across both Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Youth Offending services and we also provide the youth pathway within the Staffordshire Liaison and Diversion team.

They are a multi-skilled team consisting of mental health nurses, children’s nurse, general nurse/health visitor, assistant practitioner, support time recovery worker and speech and language therapist.
The team ethos is around supporting young people and their families when they find themselves in contact police and criminal justice agencies, working to the principle of ‘child first, offender second’.

Inclusion is part of MPFT’s Specialist Services Care Group and is the largest NHS provider of prison-based drug and alcohol services across England.

Our Health in Justice Service provides specialist substance misuse and mental health support in over 20 prison establishments across the country, including young offenders, female, open, closed and high-secure prisons.

Working in collaboration with key partners within the prisons, such as prison officers, governors, offender management teams and more, we deliver services that start from reception and initial screening, through to transfer or release of individuals.

We are strong believers that recovery communities can be created within prisons and our high-quality, committed and inclusive services aim to do this, where prison regime allows.

For more information, visit the Inclusion website.