Everyone knows that being a health care professional often entails working over the bank holidays, including Christmas, but generally the public’s impression is hospital or care home work. However, nursing is deeply embedded in the Criminal Justice System – in prisons, secure hospitals and police custody.
Following the Bradley Report in 2009, Liaison and Diversion Services were commissioned by NHS England to work in police custody and courts. By 2020, Liaison and Diversion services achieved 100 per cent coverage across England and Wales. Liaison and Diversion Services identify vulnerabilities, screen, assess and refer to other services, as well as sharing information with relevant agencies so they can make informed decisions about case management, sentencing and disposal options.
Police custody is open 365 days a year, so Liaison and Diversion Teams also work 365 days a year. Our team operates over two custody suites and we provide a Mental Health Practitioner 7am-7pm in one and 8am-4pm in the other.
Our Mental Health Practitioners consist of Mental Health Nurses, Learning Disability Nurses and Social Workers. Our Support Time Recovery Workers work in community settings 8am-4pm Monday to Friday, as this is predominantly when partner agencies operate.
No one wants to spend Christmas in police custody, but offences still take place. In fact we have noticed an increase in people arrested for Domestic Abuse offences between Christmas and the start of January. The cost-of-living crisis clearly has a huge impact on the vulnerable people in society, with shoplifting, theft and burglary seeming to be the only way out for some.
We work closely with Social Care and have had to request assessments under the Mental Health Act on Christmas Day in custody before. They have also been called upon to provide emergency housing over the Christmas period, often when bail conditions prevent people from returning to their home address.
Society puts a lot of pressure on people at Christmas; we are all bombarded with images of happy families around tables laden with food, excited children with mountains of presents, expensive gift ideas, parties and general happiness! This is not the reality for a lot of people, and this can have a very negative impact on mental health and wellbeing. People with alcohol addiction are surrounded by adverts for alcohol, parties and celebrations, and people spend large amounts of time with family members they may not get on with. People may feel they have failed by not being able to provide.
Supporting people with vulnerabilities over holiday periods presents different challenges, with GPs, benefits offices, housing departments and other partner agencies being closed. Where possible, people arrested over the Christmas period are dealt with by the police as quickly as possible, in the least restrictive way.
Christmas Day starts with a handover of the people in custody with the police and HCP, people with vulnerabilities are identified for us to screen, share information and assess if required. We are always aware of the police processes such as interviews, processing, solicitor consultations etc. We have access to the police computer system and if people are detained during the day we follow the same process.
The police custody suites we cover don’t have canteens, so all staff bring festive food in so we have a little bit of Christmas cheer! Working at Christmas in police custody is not the most joyful of days but knowing that we can make a difference and potentially improve someone’s circumstances is always a real benefit and makes us appreciate our own situations a little bit more.
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