Further Detail

The report outlines examples of good practice that were found during the review and makes recommendations relating to the planning and delivery of healthcare where further improvements could be made.

The review made seven recommendations in total. These are largely for NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs). Recommendation 2 is relevant to Police Scotland:
NHS Boards, HSCPs and Police Scotland should collaborate on the development and publication of up-to-date guidance on the delivery of police custody healthcare and agree a revised memorandum of understanding between agencies.

The review found wide variation across Scotland in access to healthcare for people in police custody. There was a lack of consistency and equity in relation to service provision, speed of access to a healthcare professional and timely interventions for people to access care depending on geographical location. The review also found that improvement is needed around the recording and analysis of clinical data, to support effective planning of healthcare service provision for people in custody. 

This joint National baseline review has been used to inform the development of an interim joint inspection framework through which HMICS and Healthcare Improvement Scotland will jointly inspect custody centres. This will provide an opportunity for service provision to be inspected against a common standard going forward to help improve health and care outcomes for detainees.

A further two initial joint inspections of custody services are due to be undertaken by the end of March 2023, the findings from which will further inform the inspection methodology. The framework will be published in spring 2023.