Guidance: Health and Social Care Needs Assessment toolkit: women's prisons

This toolkit was developed in response to recommendations from the National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review. Its goal is to provide a gender-specific Health and Social Care Needs Assessment (HSCNA) framework that evaluates the health and social care needs of women in prison during custody and on release.

The toolkit provides a framework for a systematic approach to understanding the needs of women across the justice system. This will enable consistency, address inequality and ensure equitable access as part of the commissioning process. This will enable the most effective support for those in the greatest need can be planned and delivered across the women’s prisons in England.

This is intended to provide an opportunity to improve outcomes for individuals and the population with specific health and social care needs. Considering social, economic, cultural and behavioural factors that influence health of an individual’s life from reception through to release, continuity and beyond. It offers a structured and detailed guide to promote consistency and completeness across HSCNAs.