Police custodial healthcare (FOI)

​Request

This request relates to the provision of police custody / custodial healthcare (also variously referred to as ‘custody medical services’ or ‘custody healthcare services’ or ‘forensic medical service’ or ‘forensic healthcare services’ amongst others) as required by Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act within the Jersey Police custody suites or centres and is:

A

For the provision of your constabulary / force / service the total annual costs for the provision of custodial medical care in custody suites (sometimes known as “forensic medical services”) for each of the financial years 2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020. For the avoidance of doubt these figures should include:

• the detail of costs to the constabulary for healthcare of detainees (the need for whose assessment is determined by PACE Codes of Practice) provided by healthcare professionals (doctors, nurse or paramedics) employed by yourselves and/or any outsourced provider (this figure is to include all costs of locum healthcare professionals covering sickness, maternity or other leave)

• the administrative costs (to include infrastructure, personnel and any other relevant resources) to manage the custody healthcare service (and in the case of outsourced providers, the cost to the constabulary to manage that contract).

B

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), provision of the numbers of examinations/assessments of detainees undertaken in the custody setting, including multiple assessments of the same detainee

C

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), provision of the number of examination/assessments of detainees done by each of the following types of healthcare professional (HCP) - doctor, nurse or paramedic

D

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), the name and details of the provider of custodial healthcare (if contracted to an independent commercial provider or NHS trust)

E

 For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), provision of the number of HCPs directly employed within each HCP group (ie doctor, nurse, paramedic) by your constabulary

F

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), provision of the number of HCPs contracted within each HCP group (ie doctor, nurse, paramedic) by your constabulary or by any other provider of custodial healthcare

G

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), the minimum experience, training and qualification when recruiting for each HCP group (ie doctor, nurse, paramedic) required to work within your custody suites

H

Is the current clinical lead for custodial healthcare a doctor, nurse or paramedic?

I

Who is the employer of the current clinical lead?

J

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), the total number of detainees processed through your constabularies’ custody suites

K

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), the number of full-time custody suites within your constabulary.

L

For each of those years (2017 /2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), the number of available cells (when all full-time custody suites are fully operational)

M

For each of those years (2017 / 2018, 2018 / 2019 and 2019 / 2020), the numbers of deaths in custody that have been recorded.

Response

A

Jersey has a financial year which runs from January to December. Since 2018, The States of Jersey police annual Force Medical examiner (FME) costs have been set at £547,500. This is calculated as a standing rate of £1500 per day for the on call FME. In the previous year, 2017, costs were set per visit at £103.65 for the first call out and £69.45 for subsequent callouts on weekdays. At weekends and bank holidays costs were set at £158.40 for the first callout and £106.07 for subsequent callouts. The new contract reflects the market rate in Jersey for police medical examiners and ensures the required quality of service. The cost in 2017 was £345,000.

B and C

To retrieve this information would take longer than time allowed under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Each custody record would need to be examined individually and would take longer than the 12.5 hours permitted to complete requests.

D

In Jersey GP’s are self-employed and apply to be included on the police FME register.

E

No GP’s are directly employed by the States of Jersey Police

F

A total of four GP’s (FME’s) are contracted each year.

G

Each FME must undertake the initial College of Policing Introduction to Forensics course. Contractually thereafter, they must work towards FMERSA and membership of the FFLM. Peer review is conducted every month whereby cases and statements are quality assured and examined. Additionally any new FME must undertake a period of shadowing (minimum of 1 month) prior to being signed off as competent to work in the custody setting and thereafter a supervised 1:1 mentor scheme is introduced with regards to sexual offence examinations – aligned to the learning provided by FMERSA.

H

Our clinical lead is a Doctor with six years’ experience in the FME setting. She has membership of the faculty and is a specialist in this field.

I

The FME contract in Jersey is a procurement contract for services to ensure that the States of Jersey Police do not ‘employ’ the FME given their independence within a judicial setting.

J

Figures for detainees in Jersey are below:

K

Jersey police have only one custody suite

L

This suite has 20 cells.

M

The States of Jersey police has no recorded deaths in police cells.

Exemption applied

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.