Events in 2024 set a clear and positive agenda for the development of health and justice. The Secretary of State for Justice set the lead by saying that while the prison building programme will be completed, “we simply cannot build our way out of the problem”. Instead, the Government has launched a review of sentencing with a clear objective to cut crime by reducing reoffending. In our submission to the review, SONAR showed that our ReSet module will make a major contribution by providing full access to healthcare information for ex-prisoners and help to keep key appointments for probation and other services.
In October, the Department of Health and Social Care committed the new government to joined-up healthcare records, as part of the consultation ahead of the new ten-year plan on the NHS. As readers of this blog will know, the creation of a shared record across health and criminal justice is at the heart of the SONAR project.
We will continue to promote the key policy change for NHS England to commission a single Health and Justice Case Management System across all 42 forces. With the aim to raise awareness of the need for a mandatory minimum standard of healthcare IT requirements, that all police forces should commission against to improve patient safety and reduce risk for the police. As well as improving outcomes, this would help to achieve the Home Office’s objective of making the police more efficient through a lower cost of procurement.
Our engagement with the Health and Justice community is a core part of our work. In 2024 we were proud to sponsor multiple annual conferences including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (Custody), UKAFN, Thriving Survivors and the 11th Health and Justice Summit.
A huge thanks to the SONAR and JWPM team who made 2024 such a success. We delivered outstanding levels of service and broke new ground by implementing SONAR modules in police custody suites in Lincolnshire and Lancashire and in prisons in the East of England. We are working towards a strong pipeline in these markets, with the hope of implementing positive change. Thank you again for your interest as we have started moving into an exciting 2025.
John White
Founder & CEO
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