Create a process for following up with indicated patients during Early Days in Custody (EDiC)

Ask new patients whether they have someone at home who helps them with their health and get a better idea of their family relationships.

The best time to do this is probably the second healthcare screening, which has to take place during patients' first week in custody. Explain the benefits of family involvement and ask if they would like to give consent to share certain updates with that person.

Wording doesn't have to be fixed, but you could ask: 

"Is there anyone you would like us to involve in discussions about your health or wellbeing, with your permission? People often find having a family member, friend, or trust loved one involved in their healthcare can be a good support system, and they can help make sure your needs are being listened to."
 
If they say yes: "How would you like this person to be involved in your care? For example, receiving information about your health and wellbeing, helping you make decisions, offering emotional support, or being contacted if there are any concerns about your health?"

Hold a health-focused ‘Family Forum’

• Your Family Services Provider may be able to help you with this as many hold regular Family Forums;
• Invite visitors to hear from the healthcare team and ask general questions about healthcare in custody. You will need two or three members of the healthcare team who could speak about the range of services on offer and provide general reassurances to visitors;
• Be clear on what messages and information you want to get across to families and visitors, and where to signpost them for more information – don’t forget Your Guide to Prison Healthcare; 
• Advertise your forum through as many channels as possible, especially through your Visitor Centre. Discuss with your Family Services Provider to see if there is a mailing list or relevant social media channel - most prisons have an X account that has a significant following among families.
  
  You can also inform patients about the forum, in case they would like to share with their visitors. Make sure you articulate what visitors will gain by attending;
• Consider whether you can provide a visual insight into prison healthcare for your audience. A video, or even a tour of the healthcare wing can help reassure families and give a much greater depth of understanding of what is available. You will need to work with security colleagues to make sure this is done safely;
• Have a clear form of words ready to explain that you can’t discuss individual cases and why. Set this out clearly at the beginning of the forum and again when you move to the Q&A section.
  
  For example, the team at HMP Downview advise asking people to submit written questions rather than taking spoken questions on the spot. may be a helpful way to avoid inadvertent sharing of personal health information.
• If visitors to your prison tend to live locally, you might want to arrange an in-person forum. We recommend selecting a time adjacent to a visit. For example, if the visit begins at 2pm, you might want to hold a forum between 12 and 1pm.
  
  Your Family Services Provider will be able to advise which visits are busiest. If visitors to your prison tend to travel a long way (this might particularly be the case for women’s prisons and higher category prisons), it might be best to hold your forum online. 

Run a talk for staff to raise awareness and foster confidence 

• Pact can help with this – email listentofamilies@prisonadvice.org.uk. We can also offer more formal training packages;
• Identify a clear theme that matters to your audience. If you can, involve some family members with lived experience of supporting a loved one in custody. This will make your talk much more powerful and engaging, and will help you get to the heart of the issue of family involvement. But make sure you support your guest speakers in a trauma-informed way. Pact can help you with this;
• It can be helpful to invite members of other teams from across the prison to foster a whole-prison approach on family involvement. If you do this, consider how you might need to adapt the content of your talk to suit their needs. 

Create a family involvement flowchart

• Map out the key points where you would like practitioners to consider involving families: it’s good to involve staff in this, and even better if you can co-produce it with family members who have lived experience of supporting a loved one;
• Display the flow-chart prominently where staff can see it and refer to it regularly during meetings and training;
• It’s a good idea to check in with staff regularly about what is working and what is more challenging, in implementing family involvement at the touchpoints identified on the flowchart. This could be in staff meetings, during training, or in one-to-ones. Where you encounter barriers, can you work together to think of solutions? 

Welcome pack 

• Identify a selection of leaflets that share information about health issues that will be useful to families. You may even wish to design something new. Ask Pact for some leaflets with a QR code to Your Guide to Prison Healthcare.
• Arrange your leaflets into ‘packs’ that can be available for first-time visitors in the Visitor Centre. Ask your Family Services Provider to help you display or disseminate the packs.