People in police custody with health issues are regularly put at risk because medication is delayed or unavailable.
This is what a new study by researchers from Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria universities shows.
The research found that detainees are frequently denied the healthcare they need as healthcare professionals are often not present in custody suites due to staff shortages.
There is also a postcode lottery in terms of which medications these healthcare professionals can provide to detainees across different police force areas.
The study showed that Custody Officers were often sceptical or mistrustful about the legitimacy of detainees’ health conditions and their requests for medication.
Medications that are being withheld include prescribed drugs for epilepsy, cancer, mental health conditions and diabetes as well as methadone and other opioid replacements.
These factors all contribute to inequities in levels of care across Police Force areas.
The researchers are calling for all healthcare providers to sign up to a standardised medication list and a legal framework. This framework would allow them to administer medicines to patients, who meet specific criteria, without the need for a prescription from a doctor.
Healthcare Providers (HCPs) – mainly nurses and paramedics employed by private companies – are meant to be located in police custody suites for 12-hour shifts. However, due to challenges in recruiting and retaining staff, this is often not the case.
This means HCPs cover multiple custody suites travelling large distances and leading to exhaustion and compassion fatigue. The report recommends that HCPs are properly embedded in all custody suites.
It also calls for Custody Teams to listen to detainees’ accounts of their health needs with compassion and professional curiosity rather than with scepticism, stigma and mistrust.
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