Ministers must clarify how health services for children in custody will be commissioned in the new-look NHS or risk continued fragmentation of provision, youth justice professionals have warned.
Their call follows the government announcement that health services for young offenders will be managed through the NHS. The proposals, unveiled by care services minister Paul Burstow last week, will see responsibility for commissioning health services for young people in secure children's homes and secure training centres transfer to the NHS.
Until now, these services had been commissioned by individual institutions through the Youth Justice Board (YJB), despite the fact that equivalent services in young offender institutions have been dealt with by the NHS since 2006. Burstow claimed the transfer would improve the health and wellbeing of young offenders and "potentially reduce rates of re-offending".
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