§ Mr. ThurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations have been made to him concerning the number of patients at Ashworth special hospital who might more suitably be treated elsewhere; what is his estimate of the number; and if he will make a statement concerning all three special hospitals in this respect. [18974]
§ Mr. BurnsThe Reed report of 1994 relating to high secure provision suggests that a number of patients are inappropriately accommodated in high secure settings when their needs could be met in services with lower levels of security.
The Government's response to the concerns raised in the Reed report are set out in a national health service executive document, "High Secure Psychiatric Services: Changes in Funding and Organisation", which was published in June 1995.
The high security psychiatric services commissioning board was set up on 1 April 1996 to oversee these changes to forensic services as part of the Government's response to the Reed report. These changes were designed to establish a clear purchaser-provider structure to allow future service planning to occur in circumstances similar to the rest of the NHS and to foster integration and more regionally focused ownership of future problems and solutions for these services.
The board aims to develop a co-ordinated strategy for commissioning high and long-term medium secure psychiatric services within the NHS and is working, as a matter of priority, to identify the most effective use of available resources to provide high-quality services at the level of security the individual patient requires.