Supporting workforce development in the health and justice sector NHS England South, South East, with funding from Health Education England has developed a range of tools to support nurse leaders in the retention and development of staff working in the health and justice sector.
NHS England commissions health and substance misuse services in prisons, immigration removal centres, youth offender institutions and sexual assault referral centres across the UK.
Investigations into deaths in custody repeatedly highlighted a lack of training as a contributing factor, along with difficulties in retaining staff in the nursing teams.
The South East nursing team worked with partners from universities, the Royal College of Nursing and providers working in the health and justice sector to develop the following tools:
• Nina’s Story: A short film with a poem by Ian McMillan with cartoons by Tony Husband describing the impact kind, compassionate nurses had on her recovery in HMP Bronzefield.
• Working in the Health and Justice System film: a 'Day in the Life', made up of a series of short films of interviews with people currently working in a variety of healthcare roles in the justice system.
• A Competence Framework for working in the Health and Justice Sector endorsed by the RCN. A web version of the competence framework for ease of access. This is also available in hard copy. https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/03/health-justice-competence-framework.pdf
The 2 films enable providers of services into the criminal justice system to highlight advantages of working in the sector and demonstrate the impact nurses can have on detainees.
The Competence Framework provides support to nurse leaders to create clear development pathways for staff.
You can find out more and download a copy of the Competence Framework on the NHS England South Nursing page of our website.https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/info-professional/nursing-midwifery-care/
For further information please contact the NHS England South East nursing team on [email protected]