Healthcare Access

Many offenders have a high level and complexity of health needs, but often do not access healthcare until crisis point 

Our systematic review of the research literature identified the following facilitators for access:

Facilitators

Improving offenders' literacy and health literacy(Donnelle and Hall, 2014)

Providing health information in plain accessible language (Donnelle and Hall, 2014)

Having staff that are responsible for meeting people at the prison gate and arranging continuity of care (Arriola et al., 2007)

GP registration schemes(Lang et al., 2014)

Co-locating staff or services (Donnelle and Hall, 2014)

Caring professional demeanour (Donnelle and Hall, 2014,Marlow et al., 2010)

Partnership working: developing joint understanding of offenders' health needs; co-commissioning and co-delivery of services(Plugge et al., 2014; Marlow et al., 2010)

Appropriate opening hours and accessible location(Donnelle and Hall, 2014)

References

• Donnelle, L., & Hall, J. (2014) An Exploration of Women Offenders' Health Literacy, Social Work in Public Health, 29: 240-251
• Arriola, K., Braithwaite, R., Holmes, N. & Fortenberry, R. (2007) Post-release Case Management Services and Health-Seeing Behavior Among HIV-Infected Ex-Offenders, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 18(3): 665-674
• Plugge, E., Pari, A.A.A., Maxwell, J., & Holland, S. (2014) When prison is "easier": probationers' perceptions of health and wellbeing, International Journal of Prisoner Health, 10(1): 38-46
• Lang, N., Hillas, A., Mensah, M., Ryan, S., & Glass, L. (2014). Linking probation clients with mainstream health services: Experience in an outer London borough. Probation Journal, 61(3), 278–285
• Marlow, E., White, M. C., & Chesla, C. A. (2010). Barriers and Facilitators: Parolees’ Perceptions of Community Health Care. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 16(1), 17-26