News

Call PHILL: Improving prison patient information sharing

Practice Plus Group has launched a new pilot across its London prisons, allowing families and professionals to share information with prison healthcare services via a remote call-in hub.

Call centre worker on the phone
Call centre worker on the phone

Call PHILL, which stands for the Prisoner Health Information and Liaison Line, is a joint initiative with NHSE and HMPPS, launched on the 20th June 2022 with the aim of improving patient safety through information sharing.

The pilot will be run across three prisons in London: HMP Brixton, HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and HMP Pentonville, and aims to establish better communication between prisons and healthcare services, improving the ease of access to information for everyone, and reducing the likelihood of risk to patients.

Michelle Hodkinson, Lead Commissioner for the Secure & Detained Estate, London said:

“We are excited to see the launch of this innovative pilot, Call PHILL, go live.

“A much needed platform to enhance the communication between family members and trusted persons.

“We very much look forward to reviewing the outcomes from this service as we see it develop.”

The service is easy to access via telephone with callers being connected directly with the Call PHILL team who process patient information quickly and confidentially.

The service also allows clinicians to contact family members and professional services about patient information directly, when it’s appropriate.

Very often, once patients are transferred to prison there is no clear single point of contact for families and local services to share patient information through.

Important details about medication, pre-existing conditions, and treatments can be difficult to pass on to prison healthcare services, which can lead to an increased risk for the patient.

The new service will enable the right prison to be matched up with the right department, family member, or external service, and allow healthcare teams to use all the available patient information received for the maximum benefit of the patient.

If you want to contact the Call PHILL team, then please ring 0117 240 1193.