16 March 2011

Government minister Paul Burstow MP has today given the thumbs-up to our successful roll-out of a national clinical IT system to prisons across England.

Giving his first public speech on health in the criminal justice system, Burstow said: It’s always invidious to pick out specific achievements, but let me mention one major landmark we’re about to celebrate. From this spring, every prison in England will be linked up to a single national clinical IT system for prison health.

“(This is) an excellent achievement that will allow medical records to follow offenders as they move between prisons and gives those caring for them timely access to high quality clinical information. It provides a foundation for the kind of connected system we need to take offender health forward in a digital age.”

The national clinical IT system is helping provide prison healthcare professionals with a vital tool for providing safe and effective care. The minister said that the system is “a symbol...of the advances we’ve seen in recent years - to put offender health on the agenda and stop prison services being the poor relation.”