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This inspection, undertaken jointly by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), aimed to assess the treatment of, and conditions for, individuals detained in the police custody centre at Falkirk Police Station.
The report provides an analysis of the quality of custody centre operations and the provision of healthcare services.
It outlines key findings identified during our inspection and while it makes no new recommendations to Police Scotland concerning custody operations, it highlights previous recommendations made in recent inspections of other custody centres across Scotland where the same issues were once again found to be evident.
The report also makes six recommendations concerning healthcare provision.
Additional
Key findings
- Falkirk custody centre is the only custody centre in the Forth Valley divisional area, serving the sheriffdoms of Falkirk, Stirling and Alloa. It is comprised of 29 cells.
- The centre is in good condition and generally well maintained albeit subject of a pending renovation to rectify longstanding issues with custody infrastructure.
- The steel sliding rear yard access gates were functioning at time of inspection, however staff indicated they were normally found to be open and insecure as a result of repeated malfunction.
- Interviews with staff indicated cleaning standards were subject of frequent criticism, which ranged from poor levels of tidiness to inappropriate cleaning practices. There was no evidence this poor practice had been escalated via the available service review protocols for remedial action.
- The sizeable holding room contained useful information posters directed towards detainees regarding expected conduct. Additional posters were also displayed that provided information on available support for families and dependents of detainees or those destined for prison. We consider this to be good practice.
- The centre featured three charge bars. Two adjacent to the custody office were bright, easily accessible and separated by a full floor-to-ceiling enclosure affording increased discretion. A third, described as the ‘discrete charge bar’, could be accessed from the secure car park, providing appropriate discretion for vulnerable detainees.
- Detainee property storage consisted of floor-mounted lockers located in the central custody corridor immediately to the rear of the charge bars. Each individual locker had keys left within the unlocked doors, and were therefore not secure.
- There were limited shower options as a result of outstanding repairs and lack of separation or modesty screens between showers.
- Custody staff highlighted a lack of management visibility, indicating that some managers work from home, and compressed hours patterns are common, which reduce the number of days at work, and visibility to staff.
- We observed six detainees being booked in. Detainees were processed promptly, and the manner and professional engagement by officers and staff was consistently of a high standard, evidently placing detainees at ease.
- We examined 40 records from a sample of 383 from the NCS, created during the sample period of November 2024, with 305 related to males and 78 related to females.
- Within the sample, we found that the average time in detention was 16 hours, lower than the 21 hours that we found in our inspection of Glasgow custody centres. The average time of waiting to be booked in was 14 minutes, which was significantly lower than found at Glasgow centres.
- Three children and one older child on compulsory supervision were included in our sample. None were placed in a cell but were observed and supervised in an interview room. All had a parent or social worker present. We consider this to be good practice.
- Following a vulnerability risk assessment, 29 detainees were assessed as high risk and 11 as low risk. Of those marked as high risk, 15 were placed on level 1 observations without any other apparent risk mitigation in place.
- The dispensing of medication was recorded consistently on the NCS although only one staff member was assigned to each entry. Accordingly, it is not possible to ascertain if two members of staff carried out medication dispensing in accordance with policy.
- We interviewed 11 detainees during our inspection. All were complimentary about the staff and the care provided. Two offered particular praise for the additional time staff had spent to speak to them and provide support.
- Falkirk custody centre sits within the NHS Forth Valley board area. Healthcare is delivered by the Southeast Scotland Police Custody Healthcare and Forensic Examination Service, which is hosted and managed by NHS Lothian.
- We found healthcare to be well managed, with NHS Lothian’s Royal Edinburgh Hospital and Associated Services (REAS) providing monitoring and oversight through their clinical and care governance structures.
- We noted that the current process for prescribing controlled drugs did not include a wet signature of the prescriber. This is a concern, and we have sought written assurance from NHS Lothian that prescribing protocols for controlled drugs are safe and compliant with the relevant regulations.
- Healthcare staff dispensed medication into multi-compartment ‘compliance aids’ to enable custody staff, who received email instructions from healthcare staff, to support safe medicine administration. However, the service did not have a current SOP or training package to support their use.
- Processes were in place for confirming, collecting and administering community prescriptions for patients within custody who lived locally and were prescribed Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST). There was no stock of OST medicines within the centre, meaning detainees had their treatment stopped, requiring them to recommence their OST once liberated, which did not align with MAT standards.
- Although there was a process in place for nicotine replacement therapy for detainees who smoked, feedback obtained from detainees indicated that this was not consistently offered.
- Naloxone was available within the centre which was administered by nursing staff and trained police officers. However, ‘take home naloxone’ was only made available for patients who had been identified as having a history of substance use, despite the NHS Lothian protocol stating that it should be offered to all detainees.
- At the time of our inspection, Blood Borne Virus (BBV) testing was not available at the custody centre. We were told that a pilot was being undertaken in another custody centre covered by REAS.
- There was evidence of signposting detainees to community support services and custody staff were knowledgeable about the support available in the community. A range of leaflets were available for mental health, substance use, health and wellbeing, harm reduction, peer support and family support available in the community.