The Validation of New Risk Assessment Instruments for use with Patients Discharged from Medium Secure Services (VoRAMSS) | C4C

Research into patients admitted to and discharged from medium secure services has increased extensively over the last ten years, yet little attention has been given to the direct study of prisoners admitted to medium secure services, regarding their care pathways and outcomes upon discharge. A recent review of 32 NHS medium secure units has identified that 62% of prisoners admitted to medium secure services were remitted back to prison (Doyle at al., 2013). In this context, the current research aims to understand this process of transfer between medium secure services and prison and to examine the decision making processes influencing who leaves medium secure services, what factors determine discharge destination and what happens to patients when they move on. A prospective cohort study will be conducted, involving a review of the outcomes of 150 prisoners discharged from medium secure services, to either prison or the community, over a six month period. The study will measure the impact of discharge destination on outcome 12-months post discharge, as well as providing an evaluation of the predictive validity and validation of a number of structured risk assessment instruments on a prisoner-patient cohort. The research aims to provide an understanding of the impact of discharge back to prison has on mental health and incidents of violence, and will provide essential data to improve the continuity of care for patients discharged from medium secure services back to prison. It is the intension to utilize these research findings for advisory practice, in the form of contributing to good practice guideless for the effective and ethical discharge of prisoners from medium secure services back to prison.