Independent investigation: David Huitson, Newcastle (2001)

That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust continues to strengthen the interface between general adult mental health services and regional forensic psychiatry services. This is already happening through more frequent meetings between the relevant senior clinicians. … Read more That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust continues to strengthen the interface between general adult mental health services and regional forensic psychiatry services. This is already happening through more frequent meetings between the relevant senior clinicians. The forensic psychiatry services could also help the general adult services by helping the development of local protocols for liaison between general adult services and criminal justice agencies, specifically the probation service and the police. These protocols should assist appropriate information sharing between relevant agencies. Show less

That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should ensure that robust mechanisms are in place to facilitate ready access to a patient’s previous clinical records by the clinical team currently treating the patient.

That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust and the Northumbria Probation Service should review liaison arrangements between the two services, taking account of developments since the arrest of DN, and establish protocols for joint working to … Read more That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust and the Northumbria Probation Service should review liaison arrangements between the two services, taking account of developments since the arrest of DN, and establish protocols for joint working to ensure effective communication and information sharing; and should review existing liaison between adult psychiatry and the police and probation services, and firm up these arrangements where need be, building on the stronger links with these services already developed by forensic psychiatry. Show less

That the Newcastle North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should review arrangements for the support and supervision of potentially dangerous patients to ensure that inter-agency expertise, including the expertise of mental health social workers and the criminal justice … Read more That the Newcastle North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should review arrangements for the support and supervision of potentially dangerous patients to ensure that inter-agency expertise, including the expertise of mental health social workers and the criminal justice agencies, is available to provide the most effective support to patients, their families and the wider community. Show less

That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should review its procedures to ensure that for a patient on enhanced CPA a full assessment of her / his social circumstances is carried out by appropriate professionals, and … Read more That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should review its procedures to ensure that for a patient on enhanced CPA a full assessment of her / his social circumstances is carried out by appropriate professionals, and that these are reassessed on discharge. Show less

That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should make explicit arrangements for staff to undertake home visits in safety and security with the appropriate policies to support this activity clearly understood.

That the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust should ensure that its guidance on the role of the care co-ordinator is being followed in relation to communication between professionals.

The requirement of a contingency plan is in the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust’s new CPA procedures and this should be audited to ensure that required actions by professionals following disengagement by patients are thoroughly implemented. Read more The requirement of a contingency plan is in the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust’s new CPA procedures and this should be audited to ensure that required actions by professionals following disengagement by patients are thoroughly implemented. Show less

The arrangements for securing the input of clinical psychology from the forensic service should be made clear and explicit to the referrer from general adult services.