Jerome Jones
1 Aug 2018 · Coroner Joanne Lees · Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin
The coroner's concerns
1. lack of additional health checks for prisoner with NPS use
“(1)During the inquest evidence was heard that apart from some hourly checks by prison officers during the evening of the incident on 20/10/17 (the third known instance of NPS use by the deceased) no other specific checks were made on the deceased leading up to the date of his death . This was a prisoner who had 3 known instances of NPS use within a relatively short space of time. I heard evidence that the requirement for further checks would have had to come from the Healthcare team rather than from”
2. risk communication failure between drug workers and healthcare
“The inquest heard evidence from two Forward Trust Drug workers who although not medically qualified, considered that Mr [name redacted] was at a 'higher' risk from NPS use due to using NPS with his existing congenital heart defect. I was told there was no method of communicating this to either Healthcare or prison officers to enable further periodic checks to be undertaken particularly in light of the recent incident on 20/10/17.”
3. lack of medical record access for drug workers
“3)The two Forward Trust Drug workers were only aware of Mr [name redacted] existing heart condition because he disclosed this to them himself. This enabled them specifically to tailor their advice to cover the impact of Mr [name redacted] continued NPS use on his heart. Forward Trust do not appear to have access to prisoner medical records for reasons of patient confidentiality and there does not appear to be any alternative way of ensuring they have all the information about a prisoner in order to help them with their”