New guidance on prison
prescribing
14/11/11
The Secure Environments Group at the Royal
College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has published guidance for
GPs and pharmacists on Safer Prescribing in Prison.
Endorsed by the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society, the guidance is the first of its kind to
address this often challenging area. It looks at a number of
clinical areas and highlights issues such as medication misuse by
patients and medications being traded between inmates.
This guidance has been written to
assist clinicians working in prisons but it also has relevance for
clinicians working in other secure environments such as forensic
physicians and custody nurses; consultant psychiatrists; pain
clinic prescribers; hospital prescribers and general practitioners
who work with offenders.
Dr Marcus Bicknell, Chair of the
Secure Environments Group, said:
"There are 136 prisons in England
and approximately 250,000 people move through the prison system
each year, many of whom will have health issues and need care. We
hope this guidance will prove helpful to the different healthcare
teams who have a responsibility to work with patients in secure
settings."
Download Safer Prescribing in
Prison 
Areas covered by the guidance
include:
- Possession of Medicines
- Pain
- Neuropathic Pain
- Depression
- Epilepsy and Other Convulsive Conditions
- Psychoses
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
- Benzodiazepines: Use in Anxiety and Other Related
Disorders
- Insomnia
ENDS
Further information
RCGP Press office – 020 3188
7574/7575/7576
Out of hours: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk
Notes to editors
The College's multi-disciplinary
Secure Environment Group (SEG) supports general practitioners
working in secure environments (such as prisons, refugee centres,
youth offender institutions) through education, workforce
development, research and a specialised knowledge database. It
contributes to strategy development and helps raise the profile of
offender health issues.
Further information on the work of
the RCGP Secure Environments Group can be found at
http://www.rcgp.org.uk/secure_environments_group.aspx