Abstract

We hope that this toolkit will assist those working in health and criminal justice environments in England, and in particular commissioners to improve the way in which healthcare is provided for people in contact with probation by providing an overview of:
-The responsibilities of different organisations and how they can work together to contribute to improving both the health of people in contact with probation and their access to health services
 -The likely health needs of people in contact with probation so that these can be considered in Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies and commissioning decisions
 -What research tells us about the best ways of providing healthcare to people in contact with probation and where there are gaps in the evidence base
 -How healthcare is currently provided to this group, including models of good practice that could be spread
 -What barriers people in contact with probation currently encounter to accessing healthcare, and barriers that criminal justice staff encounter when trying to facilitate access to healthcare for people on their caseloads, so that we can think about how these can be overcome
 -How the quality of healthcare that people in contact with probation receive can be measured and improved