Remote consultations in prison mental healthcare in England: impacts of COVID-19

Abstract

Summary Telemedicine has become increasingly used by prison mental health services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In this editorial, we explore the benefits and risks of the remote provision of forensic mental healthcare, with consideration of the clinical, financial, ethical and legal consequences.

A scoping review of interventions to improve oral health in prison settings

“…Teledentistry featured as a key mode of delivery of interventions, mirroring success of remote interventions adopted in prison psychiatry 35 . Remote health interventions address staffing shortages, increasing health professional access from a range of geographic locations and overcoming potential safety concerns due to working in a prison facility 36 …”

“…35 Remote health interventions address staffing shortages, increasing health professional access from a range of geographic locations and overcoming potential safety concerns due to working in a prison facility. 36 Barriers and facilitators related to prison environment, recruitment opportunities, incentives to comply and staff have been identified in this review. Previous studies that utilized a health promoting prison approach emphasized the importance of engaging prison staff to overcome organizational resistance to implementing change, 37 which addresses how the environment and staff can either make or break an intervention.…”

International Survey on the Use of Emerging Technologies Among Forensic and Correctional Mental Health Professionals

“…Telemental health offers many advantages to criminal justice settings, including improved access to mental health care, high user satisfaction, increased security for all parties, enhanced continuity of care after discharge, and reduced costs (Batastini et al, 2013; Kaftarian, 2020). During the coronavirus pandemic, telecommunication technologies had the added benefit of allowing mental health professionals to provide the same services as usual while keeping physical distance (Hewson et al, 2021; Whaibeh et al, 2020). Adherence to protective measures was of great importance in criminal justice settings because incarcerated individuals are at higher risk of contracting infectious diseases compared with the general population (Akiyama et al, 2020; World Health Organization, 2021).…”

An Ethical Perspective for Telemedicine in Prison

“…Given the structural problems of healthcare provision in prison systems, telemedicine is increasingly being considered as a viable solution to advance healthcare organization, widening accessibility and the quality of service delivery (Edge et al, 2020; Hewson et al, 2021). The World Health Organization (WHO) has already acknowledged that providing remote access to healthcare services would promote a new perspective of “health citizenship” (World Health Organization, 2010).…”