Published 14 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3327
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3327

News

Older prisoners miss out on health care, says charity

Jo Carlowe

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Radical changes are needed to improve health and social care for elderly prisoners, says the crime reduction charity Nacro, formerly the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders. The charity says that of the 7358 prisoners older than 50 in England and Wales, some 80% have chronic illnesses or disabilities but miss out on the most basic provision.

Sally Wentworth James, senior policy adviser at Nacro, said that a Social Exclusion Unit report published in 2002 (Reducing Re-offending by Ex-prisoners) states that prisoners age up to 10 years faster than their contemporaries and described the level of support as "appalling."

Speaking to the BMJ, she described a system that fails because of inadequate resources and training. "We know of prisoners who need breast cancer screening, but there is no prison officer available to take them to outside services, and of prisoners in wheelchairs who miss . . . [Full text of this article]


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