Health needs of prisoners

Abstract

Very few GPs work within a prison environment, however, many of us will be responsible for the care of people in the community who enter or leave the prison system. The challenges of caring for this complex group of patients include a lack of engagement with healthcare and a high incidence of mental ill-health, substance misuse and self-harm behaviour. In order to facilitate this care, GPs need to be able to effectively communicate with patients from diverse backgrounds, in a non-judgemental manner, and strive to work with prison healthcare teams to ensure continuity of care. This should include information-sharing about ongoing treatments (drug and non-drug) and any pending investigations or secondary care follow-up. This article will describe the main health needs of the prison population and how we can improve care for this, sometimes overlooked, group of patients.