Static and Dynamic Non-Residential Intervention Service (OPD) - HMP Low Newton

“Background: Launched in 2011, the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway (OPD) is a jointly funded partnership between HMPPS and the NHS in England and Wales. It is a long-term change programme that commissions treatment and support services nationally for individuals with some of the most complex mental health needs linked to their offending. Whilst a diagnosis is not required to access services, these needs are characterised as a ‘personality disorder’. Services for people within scope are delivered across prisons, Adult Secure Mental Health Services, and community settings. The OPD is not a single service, but a connected system of interventions, activities, training, and staff support. The OPD Pathway plans to commission a clinical provider for a non-residential OPD intervention service for women in HMP YOI Low Newton. Operating in partnership with HMPPS, the service will provide one of the progressive steps along the pathway for women who present the highest/ most immediate risk of serious harm to others and have the most complex needs who screen into the OPD Pathway. The service is currently commissioned through a service level agreement (SLA) that was established prior to the formal development of the OPD programme. The service in question will engage with up to 12 women on a static basis at any one time, and a smaller number on a dynamic basis (likely to be around 5 maximum). This is not a residential provision however the women are accommodated together on a specific wing at the prison to provide a psychologically safe milieu during their time in the OPD service. The static provision involves a day treatment model delivered at a specific location in the establishment. The dynamic spaces are in place for outreach work delivered to women on other locations in the prison who either need stabilisation, preparation for access to the static service, or post-intervention work. The static day provision OPD treatment service is for up to 12 (twelve) participants meeting the criteria defined below. The dynamic day provision OPD Treatment Service is for up to 5 (five) participants meeting the criteria defined below. Organisational requirements:

• HMP YOI Low Newton provides the conditions for a sustained and consistent therapeutic operation evidenced by a service-level memorandum of understanding / partnership agreement between Low Newton (HMPPS) and the clinical provider;

• There are explicit governance arrangements to balance the demands of the treatment tasks and the wider operational requirements, these are evidenced via the service-level memorandum of understanding / partnership agreement between the clinical provider and HMPPS

• There is an integrated multi-disciplinary team which communicates across all staff groups and with participants;

• There is a sustained focus on staff training, reflective practice and regularised supervision appropriate to the specialist nature of the service and staff’s individual roles and responsibilities;

• There are an effective collaborative working agreement and operational arrangements between the partners for management, decision-making, problem resolution and service delivery, these are evidenced via the service-level memorandum of understanding / partnership agreement;

• The service develops and adapts on the basis of evaluation, audit, research, learning, experience and offender participation feedback;

• The clinical provider develops a training plan to increase, over time, the awareness levels, capability and confidence of all staff working with this population;

• There is designated administration provision to facilitate the work of the Service. The treatment service will have specific features:

• Participants will complete a programme of psycho-social and learning activities, based on one-to-one and group work and identified via a formulation approach, that increases their motivation to engage in current and future treatment; increases and improves coping strategies; develops pro-social behaviour; and improves psychological health. The clinical leadership for this programme will fall to the health provider;

• The service operates an integrated model of care, involving health, criminal justice and social care professionals, as well as non-statutory partners as appropriate, which can inform and deliver treatment to meet the spectrum of need. The model is underpinned by the concept of relational security and a clear understanding of the importance of boundaries;

• There is a coherent philosophy of care devised and promoted by the clinical provider that is understood by staff and participants and supported by policy and operational practice documentation;”