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Home Office

Answer

Ms Bridget Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (1) how many detoxifications of prisoners took place in health care centres in each of the last five years; [115749] (2) Ms Bridget Prenticewhat the average length of time for a detoxification of a drug abuser in prison has been in the last five years; and what the (a) longest and (b) shortest times have been; [115750] (3) what co-ordinated prison services address the needs of prisoners with dual diagnoses; [115743] (4) what information he has collated on the numbers of prisoners with dual diagnoses. [115744] Paul Goggins: Information on how many detoxifications of prisoners took place in health care centres in each of the last five years is not available in the form requested. Prison Service establishments reported that 41,916 drug and alcohol detoxifications were carried out between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002. `Changing the Outlook, a Strategy for Developing and Modernising Mental Health Services in Prisons' (December 2001) emphasises that service development in prisons must take account of, and link in with, other established programmes for the clinical management of substance misusers and other drug treatment or rehabilitation programmes. The planned devolution of responsibility for commissioning prison health services to Primary Care Trusts by April 2006 will enable the development of a more co-ordinated approach to the planning and delivery of health services to prisoners. This should, in turn, help support achievement of these elements of the mental health strategy. Information on the average length of time for the detoxification of a drug abuser in prison has been in the last five years is not available in the form requested. The current practice is to recommend nine to 10 day programmes for the clinical management of opiate withdrawal and seven-day programmes in respect of alcohol. All such recommended timescales are kept under review in the light of developments in clinical practice. Detailed information about the co-occurrence of substance misuse and mental disorder can be found in Chapter five of "Substance misuse among prisoners in England and Wales--further analysis of data from the Office of National Statistics survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales carried out on behalf of the Department of Health, published by the Office for National Statistics in 1999. The survey indicated that 19 per cent remanded men, 12 per cent. sentenced men, 21 per cent. remanded women and 15 per cent. sentenced women had four or more of the disorders surveyed (personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, drug dependence and alcohol misuse).

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

406 c149-50W; 115749;115750;115743;115744

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Alcoholic drinks Drugs Medical treatments Prisoners Prisons Misuse Rehabilitation

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk