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We’re delighted to share the news that one of our projects to help support the mental health of prisoners at HMP Swaleside has won a national HSJ award.

The London Pathways Partnership (LPP) project to increase BAME representation in a Psychologically Informed Planned Environment (PIPE) was named winner of the Improving Health Outcomes for Minority Ethnic Communities Category of this year’s HSJ Awards.

The PIPE service forms part of the national NHS/HMPPS Offender Personality Disorder Pathway and is an enhanced wing for high-risk prisoners at HMP Swaleside likely to meet criteria for a personality disorder.

Prisoners can self-refer onto the PIPE, where they are supported in a community environment to take part in structured or creative activities designed to encourage positive interactions and the opportunity to build life and relational skills.

Support is provided by a multidisciplinary team, including specially trained prison officers, who work alongside the clinical team.

Historically, BAME service users have often been underrepresented in forensic personality disorder services, often with less favourable outcomes. This project successfully implemented a Quality Improvement (QI) methodology to address these imbalances, through a wide range of workstreams, co-produced with PIPE service users to make the service more culturally sensitive. At the conclusion of the project, there were no disproportionalities in access or outcome according to ethnicity.

Dr Jake Shaw, Associate Director and joint chair of LPP, said: “I am absolutely delighted to see the team honoured with such a prestigious award for their dedication and commitment to making this project so successful. What makes it more special is that this was a true collaboration with the service users om the PIPE and with our HMPPS colleagues.”