Dementia and Cognitive Impairment in Prison
Research type
Research Study
Full title
HS&DR Project 14/197/65 - Dementia and Cognitive Impairment in the Older Prison Population of England and Wales: Identifying Individual Need and Developing a Skilled, Multi-Agency Workforce to Deliver Targeted and Responsive Services.
IRAS ID
196927
Contact name
Jenny Shaw
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
The number of people in England and Wales with cognitive impairment or dementia is increasing and a similar rise can be found in older prisoners. Government policy states that prisoners should receive the same quality and range of health services as people in the community; however, a lack of specialist health services means that prisoners experiencing cognitive impairment or dementia often rely on the support of other prisoners and later struggle with resettlement into the community.
This study aims to establish how many older prisoners aged 50 years plus, male and female, live with cognitive impairment or dementia in England and Wales. A national sample of prisoners will be assessed to estimate the numbers now, and likely in the future. A questionnaire survey of prison Governors and Health Managers will ask how they currently identify prisoners with cognitive impairment or dementia, how they provide care and what additional training prison health staff need. A small number of prisoners identified with a range of severity of cognitive impairment or dementia will be observed in their daily handling of prison routine, their interaction with fellow prisoners, prison staff and friends and family to better understand their experience and their specific health care needs. From the initial screening, the questionnaire survey and prisoner observations, examples of the different degrees of severity of impairment that prison health professionals might encounter will be presented to a panel of experts. The experts will be asked to design different care pathways that meet the health care needs of prisoners with mild cognitive impairment through those with more severe forms and the cost of delivering these options now, and in the future, will be calculated. Training materials to help staff deliver high quality care to older prisoners will also be developed.
REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
16/WA/0216
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion