Telehealth initiative launched at HMP Brixton

Company news

Jul 01, 2014

An initiative has been launched at HMP Brixton to deliver healthcare to prisoners using telemedicine, reducing the need for offenders to go to hospital to see a consultant or nurse.

The initiative involves using clinical consultation via secure video link with equipment located both in the prison’s healthcare centre and a Telehealth Hub, based at a Airedale Hospital in Steeton, West Yorkshire, so that the hospital’s clinicians can carry out ‘virtual’ consultations, talking face-to-face with the patient and occasionally carrying out examinations using close up hand-held cameras if necessary.

To launch the initiative, Care UK, the independent health and social care provider which runs the healthcare centre at HMP Brixton, has teamed up with Immedicare – a partnership between Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and technical providers Involve – which provides the telemedicine service from Airedale Hospital.

The prison is linked to the Telehealth Hub, which is run by the trust’s specialist nurse and consultant teams, 24-hours-a-day, seven-day a week. The care provided covers a range of health problems including serious situations from A&E consultants and second opinions on other medical conditions via scheduled appointments with consultants or therapists.

Sharron Pearce, primary care project manager for Care UK, said: “All prisoners who have telehealth consultations would normally be taken out of prison to a local hospital, which can mean an increase in both costs and the time taken to deliver medical advice, particularly as many prisons have a remote location. Telemedicine consultations reduce the risk of removing prisoners from the prison and they maintain patients’ dignity because there isn’t a need for an official escort. Patients have benefited from receiving healthcare and specialist advice more quickly delivered in an appropriate setting and it also helps relieve pressures on urgent care services. Savings are then invested into providing better healthcare in the future.”

Rebecca Malin, deputy director of strategy and business development at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a great example of partnership. Immedicare has provided the technology and secondary care expertise and is working with Care UK to design the best methods of delivering the right care at the right place at the right time.

“There is a saving as there is no longer the cost of an escort for offenders leaving the premises. We are also helping to provide round-the-clock urgent care in a much more convenient service by supporting offenders to receive care in their own environment when they need it. Prison healthcare teams also often benefit from working with our consultants in this way.

“We hope this will be the start of a long, successful relationship with Care UK with HMP Brixton being a ‘blueprint’ for providing healthcare in an offender setting.”