Criminal justice and forensic services

The criminal justice liaison and diversion team provides an innovative screening service available at several points within the criminal justice system.

Who does the team provide this support to?

The team are based within Derbyshire custody suites, Derbyshire magistrates court and Derby Crown Court.  The team receive referrals from probation, youth offending and via other professions within the criminal justice system.  The team provide opt-ins to those who have been through the criminal justice system to make a self / family-referral.

The team provide this service across all ages and all vulnerabilities.  People with mental health problems, learning disability, substance misuse problems and other vulnerabilities are identified and assessed as early as possible.

Here is what our previous users have said about our service

“On arrest the patient’s mum notified the Police that he actually had a job interview at 5pm – however as time progressed he still had not been interviewed by the Police and both myself / social care and mum were really worried that he would miss the opportunity.  I spoke at length with the L&D Youth Worker and she went to speak with the custody sergeant and she encouraged the police to release the patient on bail conditions to return to the police station the following day…focus on what was best for the patient in that situation is fantastic.  The Youth Worker then went above and beyond and actually drove the patient to his job interview and I am really pleased to say that he got the job…a really positive opportunity for him to make changes in his life”

“I had a phone call from a service user I assessed in custody.  During the original assessment, I conducted motivational interviewing, solution focused work, helped to explore options for help and support and enhance motivation to change. A referral was made to the DRP during which they engaged consistently.  The service user phoned me today to thank me for the support I gave him and how I helped him start his journey of change. He said he has completely changed his lifesyle and is now really happy. He said he “'couldn't of done it without our help”.

“The Liaison and Diversion substance misuse worker was at the desk as I was being checked in to custody. She explained who she was, came across as nice and friendly – not linked to the police.  Felt comfortable talking to her and she was very quick to respond to my needs.  She was able to do the referral on my behalf and kept me informed of any updates over the phone once I had been released from custody.” 

How does the team operate?

The team works Monday - Friday between the hours of 7:30am -7:30pm and on the weekends and Bank Holidays 7:30am – 3:00pm.  

Following a screening process based on the vulnerabilities identified above and others, the team will then support individuals, engaging with services to improve their health outcomes and reduce their chances of re-offending.  

We are a key partner in multi-agency liaison and working, training across multi-agency and health groups. In addition, the team hold a variety of specialisms which enables this model to operate:

How do I contact the team?

The team can be contacted by calling telephone 01332 268490 (Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm) or via email dmh-tr.CJMHTmailbox@nhs.net.

Links

• Probabtion Referral form
   

RECONNECT is a care atter custody service, working pre- and post-release to reconnect patients to community-based health services.  It is an all-vulnerabilities service, taking a holistic approach.  

Aims of the service:

• Improved access to healthcare and support services for vulnerable individuals leaving prison
• A reduction in health inequalities
• A reduction in reoffending and / or escalation of offending behaviours
• Increase link to third sector organisations
• Greater inclusion of prison leavers
• To safeguard the health gains made in prison and build upon them in the community

How do the team provide this support?

Through inclusion criterion (as per below), the team will screen referrals and conduct a clinical assessment to identify if the RECONNECT programme would be suitable.  The clinician would refer to services as required and the service user may be supported for up to 6 months post-release by the engagement worker and / or a peer support worker (with lived experience).  

• Any person leaving a secure or detained setting with an identified health vulnerability that means that they would otherwise struggle to engage with community-based healthcare services and / or relevant support services.
• Anyone person aged 18 or above who has left a prison or immigration removal centre within the last 28 days who meets the health vulnerability criteria.

How does the team operate?

The team are based within Derbyshire prisons and engage with partner agencies through resettlement meetings.  This will alert the service to prisoners being released within the next 4 weeks and the next 12 weeks if they have complex needs and will provide support as required to the prisoner.  The team will also be working within the community and located in partner agencies where suitable to enable ongoing support to the released prisoner.  The team will work alongside the wider Liaison and Diversion team to provide holistic support.

How do I contact the team?

You can contact the team via the following routes:

Email: dhcft.derbyshirereconnect@nhs.net
Contact number: 01332 389190 (Monday Friday 9-5pm)

Links:

• Referral Form
• Consent Form
• RECONNECT video
• Leaflet

The Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) is one of three community sentence treatment requirements (CSTR) that aim to address the health and social care outcomes of people convicted of offences within the criminal justice system and given a community sentence (not given a custodial sentence).  

The three types of health-related CSTRs are:

• Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs)
• Alcohol Treatment Requirements (ATRs)
• Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs).  

Evidence shows that the use of CSTRs can:

• Reduce offending
• Offer an alternative to custodial sentences 
• Improve health and social outcomes.

How do the team provide an MHTR? 

The Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion team will offer support and guidance both before sentencing and once a sentence has been imposed. Through this process, the team can identify clients for whom an MHTR may be appropriate. The MHTR team can also take referrals from legal representatives, probabtion, the judiciary and from individual defendants and the carer(s). For all referrals, the team will undertake a screening and assessment to determine a person’s suitability to the MHTR sentence.

For a mental health treatment requirement (MHTR), the team can support adults aged 18 and over who...

• Live within the county of Derbyshire or city of Derby 
• Are charged with committing an offence that falls within a Community Order / Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) range
• Have mild to moderate mental health difficulties
• Are not actively psychotic and not actively suicidal 
• Consent to MTHR referral and assessment, and have expressed a willingness to comply and consent to the conditions of the MHTR
• Can receive intervention in the community i.e., they do not require hospitalisation or a section (being kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act) 
• Are registered with a Derbyshire-based or Derby-based GP (or are willing to register with a Derbyshire or Derby GP ).

If someone is already receiving support from secondary mental health services, the team will ask for confirmation of whether the identified mental health needs are already being addressed.

Here is what our previous users have said about our service

“I am glad I did the MHTR….it provided me with a treatment plan on the support I needed at the time of my offending”

“The sessions were good on the MHTR as they allowed me to talk about these difficult things when I needed to…now I have completed I will continue to open up and talk to the professionals”

“I valued having the same practitioner for each of my sessions on the MHTR as it allowed me to talk to someone in confidence and not have to repeat my circumstances again to a new person” 

How do I contact the team? 

The Mental Health Requirement Team Practitioners are based alongside the Liaison and Diversion Team at St Andrew’s House (3rd floor), 201 London Road, Derby DE1 2TZ. Telephone: 01332 268490.

You can also download and complete a referral form and return via email to: dmh-tr.CJMHTmailbox@nhs.net

Links:

• Service Leaflets
• Our Service and Outcomes

Our team at the Kedleston Unit provides a gender-specific low-secure service for males.

The team delivers intensive, comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatments and care for patients who demonstrate disturbed behaviour in the context of a serious mental disorder and must be in a secure setting.

The service is commissioned by IMPACT east midlands, our provider collaborative who we work closely with. Referrals come from regional medium-secure units, prisons, Ministry of Justice recalls, Psychiatric Intensive Care Units and acute adult wards. There are 20 beds at the Kedleston Unit: Curzon ward is an eight-bedded assessment ward and Scarsdale ward is a 12-bedded rehabilitation ward.

Referral criteria

• Males 18 years and above
• Must be suffering from a mental disorder, and detained under the MHA 1983 (not section 2)
• Must require treatment in a specialist low-secure service
• Will usually have complex and challenging forensic and mental health needs.

External referrals should come through provider collaborative, IMPACT, who will send the appropriate referrals to our Single Point of Access email address   dhcft.derbyshireforensicspoa@nhs.net

The Kedleston Unit team are members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Forensic Quality Network. They are active members in peer service review and sharing of good practice through the network.

Downloads

• Kedleston Unit inpatient guide
• Security information for visitors
• Information for patients/visitors/carers

Contact

Kedleston Unit
Kingsway Hospital
Kingsway
Derby
DE22 3LZ

Telephone: 01332 980145

In 2019, we introduced a new community-based forensic service. This service is county wide over Derbyshire and provides a community focus for supporting individuals whose serious offending behaviour occurred while mentally unwell.

What does the FCMHT do?

The overall aim of the service is to provide and promote high quality comprehensive mental health care in supporting individuals with their mental health, whilst collaboratively understanding their criminogenic and risk related needs, working with external agencies to safely manage public protection. The service is specifically designed for individuals with a primary diagnosis relating to their mental health, who pose or have posed a significant risk to others and this risk is clinically defined as related to their mental health.  This may include individuals who have a dual diagnosis. 

The value of the FCMHT will seek to reduce the risk of offending behaviour by adopting a holistic, whole person and contextualised approach to understanding an individual's mental health challenges and the acquisition/evolution of forensic needs across the life span.

The FCMHT aims to support individuals to develop a functional formulation of their presentation, both in terms of their mental health needs and their criminogenic and risk-related needs. Working collaboratively and cooperatively with the people who use our service, we aim to promote well-being and quality of life, reduce and/or manage risk and enhance social inclusion. 

The team will provide a meaningful, collaborative approach to the appropriate management and treatment for people who access the service, providing support and assistance (including full working and joint working as appropriate), specialist risk assessment and links with other agencies. These assessments will be holistic and incorporate specific recommendations regarding the potential risk of harm to others, appropriate measures to manage any identified risk factors and the early management of risk indicators.

The team will aim to achieve, through working flexibly with individuals, their optimum level of functioning, and to support them in their therapeutic engagement using:

• Formulation and functional analysis.
• Understanding the impact of trauma, victimisation and adversity.
• Mental health needs including symptom management. 
• Risk management. 
• Relapse prevention 
• Physical health needs. 
• Recovery focussed work. 
• Practical support e.g., accommodation, finance and employment/training. 
• Crisis prevention and management.
• Individual and carer needs led assessment. 
• In-reach to in-patient wards and prison establishments
• Social needs and improve social network. 
• Interpersonal relationship skills. 
• Liaison with outside agencies (including MAPPA, MOSOVO, local Community Mental Health Teams, Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Service, Prison in-reach service, Probation, Housing)
• Discharge planning.

Service Hours and Contact for FCMHT

The hours of operation are Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. The team does not operate over weekends and bank holidays. However as per the Trusts CPA policy, all individual care plans will detail a contingency plan of care for out of hours.

Forensic Community Mental Health Team
Kingsway West House
Kingsway Hospital
Derby
DE22 3LZ

Tel:  01332 623793

Team email address: dhcft.forensiccmht@nhs.net 

FCMHT Referral Criteria and Form

The team will accept referrals for people whose mental health has resulted in a formal diagnosis (no referral will be accepted for diagnosis alone) that relates to serious offending behaviour. However, referrals for non-convicted behaviour, will be considered if there is strong evidence of current risk of harm to others and for which appropriate treatment is available through community service provision.

The team will also consider referrals for people who may have additional disorders such as Autism and ASD alongside their primary mental health diagnosis, advice and support can be sought from specialist services within Derbyshire Healthcare, such as the Forensic Support Team. Reasonable adjustments will be made, and appropriate aids used to optimise communication, assessment and to establish an enabling environment. The team can attend CTR as deemed necessary. 
 
Serious Offending examples may include (list not exhaustive):

• Homicide/attempted murder,
• Wounding with intent,
• Rape/attempted rape/sexual assaults,
• Fire setting (reckless or with intent to endanger life).

For a referral to be accepted, ALL of the following must be applicable:

• There must be actual or potential serious risk from the person to others,
• The risk must be related to their mental health diagnosis. 
• The persons assessment/management can only be met by the specialist skills/facilities of the community forensic service.

The FCMHT operational model incorporates a mixture of parallel and integrative models of care in liaison with generic services as follows:

• Level 4 – With the Forensic Community Mental Health Team taking full responsibility for care of the patient, including full CPA responsibility.  
• Level 3 – FCMHT joint working with the generic mental health services. Discussions around lead agency would be dependent on the individual case considering the clinical need and risk management. This would be clearly identified at assessment phase.  
• Level 2 – By offering a single assessment, consultation, advice and guidance or period of assessment, for example, to undertake a structured risk assessment, with the referring team retaining responsibility. Time specific. 
• Level 1 – Tracking individuals who are who are in secure or specialist hospital placements or prisons and will require FCMHT services on their return to Derbyshire.

The FCMHT will not usually consider referrals for people who:

• Who are unwilling to engaged with the FCMHT, especially in the absence of the MHA framework. 
• Whose primary problem may be drug dependency/substance misuse
• Who engage in violent and anti-social behaviour that is not driven by their mental health condition. 

Individuals who are not subject to MHA provisions should only be referred to FCMHT if they are willing to engage with the assessment by the FCMHT. In these circumstances, and if the individual is deemed an imminent/high risk to others, then the referring team could consider assessment under the Mental Health Act or police intervention may be deemed more appropriate resource for such individuals.

Individuals may not be regarded as the province of the Forensic Community Mental Health Team simply because they have a criminal history. Further details are contained in the FCMHT Operational Policy.

What professionals make up the FCMHT?

The Forensic Community Mental Health Team is comprised of the following: 

• Mental Health Nurses 
• Consultant Forensic Psychiatrists 
• Forensic/ Clinical Psychologist
• Enablement workers
• Occupational Therapists
• Service Manager
• Area Service Manager
• Medical Secretary/Team Administrator 

The team will provide specialist forensic support for individuals who would previously have been seen through the Trust’s neighbourhood teams.

Referral Form for the Team