Partnerships
Primary Care Trusts as responsible authorities
The Police Reform Act 2002 made some significant changes to the law, which affect how the NHS at a local level relates to Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). Section 97 of the Act amended the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to specify that responsible authorities shall include Primary Care Trusts. This guide from Nacro helps guide CDRPs consider how they can integrate their local health agencies into their partnerships and their work.
Title: Primary Care Trusts as responsible authorities
Author: Jim McManus
Series: Nacro Community Safety Practice Briefings
Number of pages: 8
Date published: May 2003
Background
The NHS has a responsibility, with other statutory agencies, for health in its widest sense: public health. The term 'public health' essentially refers to the general state of the population's health, both mental and physical. This is where there is a clear crossover with crime. The poorest communities are likely to have the worst public health as well as high crime. And crime and fear of crime are significant contributory factors to poor public health. This provides a natural set of policy links and opportunities for action between public health and community safety. Reducing physical disorder in an area will have a health impact as well as a crime and disorder impact. There are, similarly, a number of parallels between the process of determining local needs and responding to them. This framework provides a number of opportunities for action. Reducing crime can help the health services: fewer violent crimes mean fewer resources have to be used on treating the victims and the long-term psychological and physical consequences of crime on health can be reduced.
Why should health agencies and CDRPs work together?
There are a number of reasons why health services should be more closely engaged in the work of their local crime and disorder reduction partnerships. They include:
Crime and health are linked both directly and indirectly. Reducing crime improves public health.
Reducing fear of crime among elderly people can reduce isolation and improve their mental health, as well as saving long-term care beds.
Early intervention with victims of hate crime and domestic violence reduces long-term physical rehabilitation costs and mental health costs, especially if it targets and prevents repeat victimisation.
Crime costs health services hundreds of millions of pounds every year and takes resources from patient care.
Violent crime against health care staff costs upwards of £300 million a year and reduces the effectiveness of health care services.
Reducing alcohol-related crime reduces injury and alcohol-related harm.
Violence related injury is expensive to treat: an alcohol related glass injury can cost up to £180,000 to treat, involving as many as 48 different professionals.
The full briefing includes a "Who's who" of healthcare agencies and what they each do together with details of the information that various health agencies can bring to the partnership and how this can be used.
Download the "Primary Care Trusts as responsible authorities" briefing note from the Nacro website 
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Last update: Tuesday, August 19, 2008