Provision of forensic healthcare services for police custodial settings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Current practice and implications for other services?

This article examines the provision of forensic healthcare services in police custody suites across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, focusing on models of delivery, costs, healthcare professional (HCP) qualifications, and the impact on ambulance call-outs. Using Freedom of Information Act requests, the study found substantial variability and fragmentation in service provision, with many police services outsourcing healthcare to private providers and significant inconsistencies in data availability and transparency. The percentage of ambulance call-outs from custody suites varied widely, with some suites staffed by Custody Nurse Practitioners showing higher call-out rates than those staffed by Forensic Medical Examiners. The authors recommend establishing a standardized national dataset on police custodial healthcare and advocate for the transfer of these services to the National Health Service to improve consistency, patient safety, and accountability.