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Children’s health

Children’s medical needs (Back to top)

Healthcare provision is in place to manage children’s medical requirements whilst attending court. The details of this provision may be accessed through the Healthcare Provision at Court section of this guide.

Children requiring treatment in hospital (Back to top)

The PECS contract provides the provision to manage children who are admitted to hospital from secure children’s homes, the secure training centre and the Oasis restore secure school.

These may be both planned and unplanned admissions. Where a child has a planned admission, secure sites should contact the Youth Custody Service (YCS) in the first instance, to ensure appropriate arrangements are in place for the PECS supplier to manage the process via the complex escort process.

Where a child is admitted on an unplanned basis, ideally the secure site will notify the YCS, who will then ensure PECS are aware.

The PECS supplier will then take over the management of the child in hospital within 3 hours of admission as an in-patient, notification by the secure site and provision of a security risk assessment.

Once the PECS supplier takes over from escort staff from the site, they will assume responsibility for all aspects of managing that child.

It is likely that the child will be secured by an escort chain, however mechanical restraints are always subject to a risk assessment process accounting for security and medical requirements.

The risk assessment will also consider the number of staff needed to supervise the child, and how any professional and or family contact is managed.

Once the child is discharged from hospital, the PECS supplier will escort them back to the secure site, with a detailed handover of medical and risk information provided to the receiving team.

More detailed information on this provision may be accessed within the PECS Contract North or PECS Contract South under Schedule 2, part B – chapter 3: “Bedwatches for Children and Young People in STCs and SCHs”.