The second national survey of mental health in-reach services in prisons

The prevalence of mental disorder among prisoners is considerably higher than that in the general population. Historically, mental healthcare in prisons has been criticised for being under-funded and provided by the Prison Service. The 2001 policy Changing the Outlook envisaged multi-professional prison mental health teams funded by the local primary care trusts. Such teams are now in place, managing offenders with severe mental illness, but they have faced challenges. The second mental health in-reach team survey was conducted in 2007 and aimed to capture a variety of data, including: workforce features; connections with primary care services; the role of in-reach services, their caseload, the interventions provided, and barriers to successful operation; and the relationship with the wider NHS. It was found that the role and activities of in-reach teams had changed considerably since the first in-reach survey was undertaken in 2005.