Asked by: Lord Patel of Bradford (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the 32 per cent rise in the number of deaths from heroin or morphine abuse between 2012 and 2013; and how many of the 765 people who died as a result of heroin or morphine abuse in 2013 had left drug treatment in the month that preceded their death.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
At this stage it is not possible to draw any definitive conclusions about a longer-term trend in deaths from one year’s data. Public Health England is currently analysing the data to better understand the reasons for the increase.
Asked by: Lord Patel of Bradford (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people committed suicide in prison in England in 2014; and of those (1) how many received mental health assessments prior to their deaths, and (2) how many were diagnosed with a mental health illness.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The number of self-inflicted deaths in prison custody in 2014 is due to be released on the 29th January 2015 at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics
The most recent Safety in Custody statistics bulletin covers deaths in prison custody up to the end of September 2014. In the first 9 months of 2014 there had been 58 self-inflicted deaths in prison custody in England. As it can be difficult to determine a person’s intent to take their own life, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) classifies any death where a person has apparently taken their own life, irrespective of intent, as a self-inflicted death.
Information on mental health assessments and diagnoses are not collected centrally.
Prisoners receive a detailed medical examination on reception and those identified as having mental health needs are referred for a further mental health assessment. The reception healthcare screen also includes an assessment of the risk of self harm or suicide. Prisoners identified as being at risk of self harm or suicide (on reception, or at any point during their time in custody) are subject to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT), a flexible, prisoner-centred care planning process. The ACCT process includes a detailed psychosocial assessment by a trained assessor within 24 hours, and this is followed immediately by the first multi-disciplinary case review, at which a decision is reached about whether or not a further mental health assessment is necessary.
We are applying strenuous efforts to learn from each death and are providing further resources and support to prisons to help support their safer custody work. Reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons is a top priority, and our dedicated resources are providing support to many vulnerable prisoners every single day.
Asked by: Lord Patel of Bradford (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the "overall policy objective" referred to at paragraph 21, page 9 of their consultation response <i>Proposed changes to NHS availability of erectile dysfunction treatments—changing prescribing restrictions for generic sildenafil</i>.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
On 25 June 2014, the Department published the Government’s response to its consultation, Proposed changes to NHS availability of erectile dysfunction treatments: changing prescribing restrictions for sildenafil, a copy of which has been placed in the Library and which is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/322464/ED_Cons_response.pdf
This explains the overall policy objective of amending Regulations governing National Health Service provision of some treatments for erectile dysfunction in a way that has benefits for patients, is affordable for the NHS and is consistent with European Union legislation.