Social Services Will Not Touch us with a Barge Pole’: Social Care Provision for Older Prisoners

Authors

Kate O'Hara, Technological University DublinFollow
Katrina Forsyth, University of Manchester;
Jane Senior, University of Manchester
Caroline Stevenson, University of Manchester
Adrian Hayes, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust
David Challis, University of Manchester
Jenny Shaw, University of Manchester

Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Social sciences

Publication Details

The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology

Volume 26, Issue 2, 2015

Abstract

Older prisoners are the fastest growing subgroup in the English and Welsh prison estate. Older prisoners have high levels of health and social care needs. This mixed method study involved the distribution of a questionnaire examining the availability of health and social care services for older prisoners to all prisons housing adult males in England and Wales, followed by qualitative telephone interviews with representatives from eight prisons. Over half of establishments had some contact with external social care services but reported significant difficulties in arranging care for individuals. A professional lead for older prisoners had been identified in 81% of establishments; however the value of this role to positively affect practice appeared questionable. Statutory social care was often non-existent in prison due to the lack of understanding of what it constituted and who was responsible for its provision.

DOI

10.1080/14789949.2014.1000938

Recommended Citation

O'Hara, K. et al. (2015) Social Services will not Touch us with a Barge Pole’: Social Care Provision for Older Prisoners, The Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology,Vol.26, no. 2, 2015. doi:10.1080/14789949.2014.1000938