| Absconsion | Technically, an absconsion is an unauthorized absence from a Leave of Absence trip, i.e., the patient escapes whilst on an arranged visit outside the walls of the hospital. An escape, by contrast, refers to a patient escaping from within the secure perimeter of the hospital. |
| Butler | The Report of the Committee on Mentally Disordered Offenders, established in 1972 under the chairmanship of Lord Butler of Saffron Walden KG, which reported in 1975 and made many recommendations on the treatment and management of mentally abnormal offenders. |
| CAS | Continuous Assessment Scheme, the special scheme within the Prison Service for monitoring the most disruptive prisoners. |
| Code of Practice | Under section 118 of the Mental Health Act 1983 the Secretary of State is required to produce detailed guidance on how the provisions of the Mental Health Act should operate. The Code is currently published as Code of Practice: Mental Health Act 1983. A revised edition is currently under consideration and will published early in 1999, subject to Parliamentary approval. |
| CPA | Care Programme Approach. The CPA, described in Health Circular HC(90)23 and Local Authority Letter LASSL(90)11, is designed to ensure that patients receive well-planned and coordinated care. |
| CSC | Close Supervision Centre, part of the new approach within the Prison Service towards managing highly disruptive prisoners. |
| DSMIV | Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (1994). Published by the American Psychiatric Association. |
| Forensic Psychiatry | The branch of psychiatry which deals principally with mentally disordered individuals who offend or otherwise come into contact with the Criminal Justice System. |
| HAS | The NHS Health Advisory Service. The Health Advisory Service (formally Hospital Advisory Service) was established in 1969 to encourage and disseminate good practice and to advise the relevant Secretaries of State on standards of care and management practices in hospitals for elderly and mentally ill people in England and Wales. The existing HAS was wound up in March 1997. |
| Health Care Service for | Formerly the Prison Medical Service. This part of the Prison Service is responsible for the |
| Prisoners | delivery of health care to prisoners. |
| HEG | Hospital Executive Group (Ashworth Hospital) |
| HMG | Hospital Management Group (Ashworth Hospital) |
| HMT | Hospital Management Team (Ashworth Hospital) |
| Hospital Direction | A new order known as a Hospital Direction has been created by section 46 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. This allows a judge in the Crown Court to pass a sentence and order the detention of an offender in a hospital, as if a hospital order had been made. A restriction direction would be passed at the same time. At present this power only applies to those classified as suffering from psychopathic disorder. |
| Hospital Order | A hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act is an alternative to a sentence. The convicted individual is detained in hospital for treatment. Generally the hospital order will be subject to a restriction direction under section 41, giving the Home Secretary powers over various aspects of the convicted person's management. |
| HSPSCB | High Security Psychiatric Services Commissioning Board, the non-statutory body set up to advise Ministers on the funding and commissioning of high security psychiatric services, and on a future strategy for secure psychiatric services. |
| HSPSCT | High Security Psychiatric Services Commissioning Team, the group of civil servants who are responsible for the day to day commissioning and monitoring of high security psychiatric services. |
| ICD10 | International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (1992). Published by the World Health Organization. |
| LOA | Leave of Absence. The term used for a trip outside the hospital grounds. |
| Mental Disorder | A legal term. Section 1(2) of the Mental Health Act defines mental disorder as "mental illness, arrested or incomplete development of mind, psychopathic disorder and any other disorder or disability of mind". |
| MHAC | Mental Health Act Commission. The statutory body charged with visiting detained patients and safeguarding their rights. |
| MHRT | Mental Health Review Tribunal. Tribunals are independent quasi-judicial bodies charged with reviewing the compulsory detention of patients in psychiatric hospitals. |
| MHU | The Mental Health Unit of the Home Office, the Unit which supports the Home Secretary in exercising his statutory duties with regard to restricted patients. |
| Moss Side | Moss Side was the original psychiatric hospital at Ashworth, comprising what is now Ashworth South (which was closed in 1995) and Ashworth East. |
| MSU (RSU) | Medium Secure Unit (Regional Secure Unit). Secure psychiatric hospitals for patients who do not need the level of security found in the High Security Hospitals. There are now approximately 1,700 medium security beds in the NHS and private hospitals. |
| NHS | National Health Service. |
| NWRO | North West Regional Office, one of the Regional Offices of the NHS Executive, itself part of the Department of Health. The NWRO oversees the performance of the NHS in the North West of England. |
| Park Lane | Park Lane was built to relieve overcrowding at Broadmoor. It opened in stages between 1974 and 1984. It is now known as Ashworth North. |
| PCL-R | Psychopathy Checklist Revised, devised by Professor Hare. This checklist comprises 20 items, in which each item is scored 0, 1 or 2. At a score of 30 or more an individual is designated as a "psychopath" for research purposes. |
| PCT | Patient Care Team. The multi-disciplinary team on a given ward which discusses and makes decisions on the care and treatment of patients on that ward. |
| PDU | Personality Disorder Unit (Ashworth Hospital) |
| Personality Disorder(s) | Abnormality or abnormalities of personality which are long-standing (usually beginning in childhood) and persistent, and which constitute a basic feature of a person's functioning. |
| POA | Prison Officers' Association, one of the three main unions at Ashworth. The others are the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) and UNISON. |
| Psychopathic Disorder | Psychopathic Disorder is defined in the Mental Health Act as "a persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including significant impairment of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the |
| person concerned". |
| Reed Review | The Department of Health/Home Office Review of Services for Mentally Disordered Offenders and Others Requiring Similar Services (1992). This review was chaired by Dr John Reed CB and made a number of recommendations for improving services for mentally disordered offenders. |
| RMO | Responsible Medical Officer, defined in law as "the medical practitioner in charge of the treatment of the patient". The RMO exercises various powers, including the power to discharge, renew detention and grant leave of absence. These powers are circumscribed somewhat in the case of restricted patients by the powers of the Home Secretary. |
| SHA | Special Health Authority. Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton are all Special Health Authorities. |
| SHSA | Special Hospitals Service Authority, the Special Health Authority which ran the Special Hospitals between 1989 and 1996. |
| Special Hospitals | The traditional term for the three High Security Hospitals in England. The other two are Broadmoor and Rampton. The State Hospital at Carstairs in Scotland is the High and Medium Security facility for Scotland and Northern Ireland. |
| SSI | Social Services Inspectorate. The SSI is part of the Department of Health. One of its key functions is carry out a programme of independent inspections of personal social services. |
| TBS | Terbeschikkingstelling roughly equivalent to a hospital order in the Dutch system. See Appendix 8. |
| Transfer Direction | A transfer direction is an order for a convicted prisoner to be transferred to an NHS hospital under section 47 of the Mental Health Act. Usually restrictions are attached under section 49. A move in the opposite direction is known as remitting back to prison. |
| Treatability | Before an individual classified as suffering from psychopathic disorder (and mental impairment) can be detained in hospital for treatment the treatability test must be satisfied, i.e., that the treatment "is likely to alleviate or prevent a deterioration of his condition" (see sections 3, 37). |
| UGM | Unit General Manager |
