§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they accept the finding of the Chief Inspector of Prisons that 41 per cent of the patients in prison healthcare centres in three local prisons should have been in secure National Health Service accommodation; and what corrective action they intend to take. [HL759]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Falconer of Thoroton)The Government recognise the importance of improving mental health services for prisoners. Where prisoners are so seriously ill that they need to be treated in hospital they should be assessed and transferred as quickly as possible. The Government have put mechanisms in place to monitor this process. But, just as in the wider community, the majority of those with mental illness do not need hospital care, and the Government are also working, through initiatives such as the prison mental health in-reach project, to improve the range and quality of services available to prisoners.