A performance audit into whether adults in custody have effective access to health services has found that Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network (Justice Health) and Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) deliver timely healthcare to the majority of custodial patients.
In her report Access to health services in custody, Auditor-General Margaret Crawford said a small proportion of patients did not receive care within target timeframes.
“Eleven per cent of scheduled health appointments are not attended and Agencies can do more to understand the reasons for non-attendance,” Ms Crawford said.
“Demand for mental health care exceeds service capacity and some patients are held in environments not appropriate for their needs,” she said.
“Justice Health’s information systems do not support the effective transfer of medical records as patients move around the prison network.”
Ms Crawford said not all patients were released from custody with a discharge plan and Justice Health’s system managers didn’t receive sufficiently detailed reports to understand strategic risks or opportunities to improve access to health services.
The Auditor-General said public and private prison health operators didn’t report against consistent performance measures.
“Justice Health is mandated to assess health services in private prisons,” she said.
“This conflicts with its role as a contracted provider of health services in the private prison system.”
Ms Crawford made seven recommendations in total, two to Justice Health that it enhance its reporting on patient access to health services and improve its health information management systems to enable effective transfers of patient clinical records and appointment information.
She made two recommendations to Justice Health and CSNSW for them to develop a framework to govern and monitor costs for patient health escorts and movements and another framework to govern common responsibilities for mental health services.
Ms Crawford recommended that the Agencies collaborate with NSW Ministry of Health to progress infrastructure plans that address the lack of specialist accommodation for mental health patients and align performance measures to enable benchmarking between public and private prison health services.
Her final recommendation was that the NSW Ministry of Health take action to remediate the conflicting monitoring arrangements of public and private prison health operators.
The Auditor-General’s 44-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
