Transfer to community and prison mental health care from Ireland's main remand prison over three years: 2015-2017.
Housing support linked to more successful transfers of care for homeless mentally ill prisoners
Transfer to community and prison mental health care from Ireland's main remand prison over three years: 2015-2017.
The post-release period is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality.
We aimed to determine the proportion of mentally ill people in Ireland's main remand prison who were referred for mental health follow up in community and prison settings, who achieved face to face contact with the receiving service.
This retrospective observational cohort study was based in Ireland's main male remand prison, Cloverhill.
over 4 in 10 referred to community follow-up never made contact
There were 911 discharges from the prison inreach mental health team within the three-year study period.
Of these, 121 were admitted to hospital, 166 were transferred to other prison inreach mental health services and 237 were discharged to community based mental health follow up in psychiatric outpatient or primary care settings.
One third (304/911) had an ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophreniform or bipolar disorder (F20-31) and 37.5% (161/911) were homeless.
Over 90% (152/166) of those referred to mental health teams in other prisons achieved successful TOC, with a median of six days to first face-to face assessment.
Successful transfer of care can be achieved in remand settings using a systematic approach with an emphasis on early and sustained interagency liaison and clear mapping of patient pathways.
For incarcerated individuals experiencing homelessness and mental health disorders, provision of a housing support service was associated with increased likelihood of successful transfer of care to community mental health supports.