To my knowledge the Prison Medical service is still rooted in paper records.
Certainly in the YOI sector which I have direct experience of . At HMYOI
Deerbolt, at least, only the discipline side has a computer system - don't
know how it works but the front end looks very old-fashioned (1980's)
There is a real problem here. Certainly young offenders are shunted all over
the place and their records follow several days later if you're lucky. At the
end of the sentence the record is closed and next time they nick a car or
whatever and return a new virgin record is opened. Getting info. from the GP
or hospital can take an age too .
As with the armed services medical provision is outside the NHS and there are
all the confidentiality, civil liberties and secrecy issues in exchanging
info. Do you want your GP to know you've been inside - or the recruiting
sergeant for that matter if all these agencies outside the NHS joined the same
network.
Robert Upshall
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