§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements generally obtain in respect of prisoners for the treatment of a prisoner for mental illness who lived in one district health authority but is imprisoned in a prison covered by another district health authority; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Graham Allen, dated 13 March 1995.
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about arrangements for the treatment for mental illness of prisoners who are detained in establishments away from their usual districts of residence.The general rule under which the Prison Service has operated for many years is that it meets the costs of a prisoner's health care inside prison walls itself. That would include any treatment for mental illness. If a prisoner needs to be taken to an outside hospital for treatment for mental illness, the decision as to which hospital he/she is referred to is one for the clinicians involved in his/her care. The costs of treatment are a matter for his/her usual district of residence, except where the transfer to one of the special hospitals is concerned, as they are funded centrally by the Department of Health.Guidance issued by the NHS Management Executive states that the health authority responsible for funding the treatment of a prisoner/patient is determined by the address at which he or she was resident immediately before detention. Where that cannot be determined satisfactorily, responsibility falls on the district in which the offence, or alleged offence, in respect of which the prisoner is detained was committed.