During the early health checks, healthcare staff may ask your loved one if they want a family member, carer or other loved one to be involved in their care. If this does not happen, your loved one can ask for this at any time – even after their induction has finished.

If you would like to be involved, speak to your loved one and encourage them to tell healthcare staff. They can do this by filling in a healthcare application or speaking to someone in the healthcare team. In prisons where Pact has a Family Link Worker, they will also be able to help.

You can also contact the prison through a Safer Custody form. Explain that you are worried about your loved one and ask for the message to be passed to healthcare. You can ask healthcare staff to speak to your loved one about whether they want to give consent for you to be involved.

Please be aware that healthcare staff can only share your loved one’s health information with you if your loved one gives consent. They can choose what information is shared, and they can change or withdraw their consent at any time.

Before healthcare staff can share information with you, your loved one must give consent. This usually means completing a form with the healthcare team. The prison may also need to check that contact is safe and appropriate. Until this is agreed, healthcare staff cannot share health information with you.

Once consent is in place, you may be able to speak with the healthcare team about your loved one’s needs, care plan or treatment. You can also share helpful information, such as their medical history, previous treatment, triggers, or any adjustments that help them use healthcare services.

Your loved one can give consent at any time. They can also choose what information is shared, and they can change or withdraw their consent at any time.

Even if healthcare staff cannot share information with you, you can still share information with them. This could include concerns about your loved one’s wellbeing, medication, symptoms, triggers, or important letters from a doctor.

To pass information to healthcare, you can use the prison’s Safer Custody contact form and ask for your message to be shared with the healthcare team. You can also call the prison using the number on the appropriate GOV.UK page and ask to be put through to the healthcare team. If your loved one is in a London prison, you can also contact Call PHILL . In some prisons, Pact’s Family Link Worker will be able to help.

During the early health checks, healthcare staff should ask your loved one about their mental health. This may include questions about self-harm, suicide risk, past mental health needs and family history of mental illness.

If they need more support, healthcare staff may refer them to the prison GP or mental health team. If you want to know more about mental health services in prison, please click here.

Sometimes the mental health team may contact family members, carers or loved ones for more information. If they do not contact you, but you are worried or have information to share, you can use the prison’s Safer Custody form and ask for your message to be passed to healthcare. If your loved one is in a London prison, you can also contact Call PHILL . In some prisons, Pact’s Family Link Worker may be able to help.

When your loved one arrives in prison, they may be asked if they want to register with the prison GP.

For many people, this is helpful because it allows the prison healthcare team to request their medical records from their community GP. Without these records, staff may not have the full picture of their health needs.

As a family member, friend or carer, you may be able to encourage your loved one to register if this would help their care.

If your loved one is only in prison for a short time, it may be worth asking healthcare staff what is best. Registering with the prison GP may mean they are removed from their community GP list, which could affect care after release.