Children and young people in secure settings

RCPCH is leading a project to develop a set of intercollegiate standards for the healthcare for children and young people in secure settings (CYPSS) 

Updates

 Consultation now open

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Faculty of Public Health and the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine have worked together to develop these draft standards which we believe will facilitate the provision of high quality health services for children and young people in secure settings. This includes young offender institutions, secure training centres and secure children’s homes across the UK.

We are inviting comments and feedback from users and stakeholders to ensure that the standards are practical, useful and achievable and that they will make a real difference to improving the health outcomes of this particularly vulnerable group of young people.

The consultation will run for four weeks from 14 February to 13 March 2013. Guidance is provided below. 

You can respond to the consultation by completing the consultation response form below and returning it electronically to securesettings@rcpch.ac.uk by 5pm on 13 March 2013 and/or by attending one of our consultation meetings. The meetings will be held on:

• 7 March 2013, 14:00 to 16:00, at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, London; and
• 13 March 2013, 14:00 to 16:00, in Leeds (venue TBC)

To confirm your attendance please complete the online registration form by 1 March 2013. 

• Draft Intercollegiate Healthcare Standards for Children and Young People in Secure Settings (PDF, 453KB, 18 pages)
• Consultation guidance (PDF, 207KB, 2 pages)
• Consultation response form (Word, 23KB, 2 pages)

Overview

RCPCH, in conjunction with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of General Practitioners, Faculty of Public Health and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine, is developing a set of standards for the healthcare of children and young people in secure settings across the UK, including Secure Training Centres, Secure Children's Homes (including welfare places), and Young Offender Institutions. The project is funded by the Youth Justice Board.

Why?

Each year around 7,000 children and young people in England alone come into contact with the secure estate. These children and young people have significantly greater physical, emotional and mental health needs than their peers in the community and it is often not until they are within secure settings that the full extent of their needs are identified.

Of course the ultimate aim is to reduce the number of young people who need to be taken into these settings but, for those who find themselves in that situation, it presents an opportunity to address their health and wellbeing needs, not only can this benefit the individual but also the community if it can lead to a reduction in reoffending.

Despite examples of excellent local initiatives, the challenges of providing consistently high quality healthcare for young people across all secure settings are huge. There are numerous tools and guidelines currently in use and a young person comes into contact with a range of different organisations and individuals during his or her journey through the system, leading to reports of inconsistency and duplication.

There is a need for evidence-based healthcare standards, written and supported by clinical experts, which define what a safe and effective health service for children and young people in secure settings looks like.

Developing the standards

The standards are being developed by an intercollegiate group with the involvement of a wide group of stakeholders to ensure that the standards are fit for purpose and contribute to significantly improving the health outcomes of this vulnerable group of young people.

Building on existing tools and guidance the standards aim to:

• Improve the healthcare of young people in secure settings so that it is equitable to that received by young people in the community
• Facilitate better transfer of healthcare between secure settings, into and out of the non-secure community and to adult secure settings
• Ensure young people in secure settings understand the healthcare they should expect to receive and contribute to the development of these standards
• Provide clear mechanisms for identifying staff competencies and training needs in recognising and managing the health needs of young people in secure settings
• Strengthen the ability of regulators and inspectorates to assess the quality of healthcare provided

The standards will be published in June 2013.

Resources

• CYPSS flyer (PDF, 46KB, 1 page)

Get involved

Contact

Isobel Howe, RCPCH Project Manager, Health Policy