State Hospital - Chair Vacancy
The State Hospital is the only high-security psychiatric hospital covering Scotland and Northern Ireland. Employing around 650 staff, the Hospital is located in a 60 acre campus in Lanarkshire, central Scotland, midway between the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It is one of four high secure hospitals in the UK.
About the State Hospital
Patients are treated in accommodation appropriate to their needs and in an environment that supports rehabilitation. There are 140 high-secure beds for male patients requiring maximum secure care: 12 of these are specifically for patients with a learning disability. There is an additional four beds for emergency use. Wards take the form of four hubs with each unit comprising three 12-bedded areas (i.e. 36 beds per hub).
Rehabilitation
The main aim is to rehabilitate patients, ensuring safe transfer to appropriate lower levels of security. The Forensic Mental Health Services Managed Care Network (Forensic Network) is hosted by The State Hospital and effective partnership working is in place across the Forensic Network to ensure patients are transferred as required.
Patients are admitted to The State Hospital by law because of their dangerous, violent or criminal propensities. However, not all patients have been convicted of an offence, but those without formal convictions will have displayed seriously aggressive behaviours, including physical or sexual aggression / violence.
Patients can be admitted from and discharged to other NHS hospitals, prisons, courts and the community.
State Hospital Values
Although The State Hospital shares the same values, aims and challenges as the rest of the NHS in Scotland, it is unique because it has the dual responsibility of caring for very ill, detained patients as well as protecting them, the public and staff from harm. In other words, a twin aim: care and treatment, and public safety.
Important Partnerships
Well established relationships exist with the Mental Health Tribunal Service for Scotland and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. Partnership working with South Lanarkshire Council is also well established and provides social work services for patients and their families in addition to liaising with patients’ designated Mental Health Officers (MHOs) across the country.
Patients
All patients are male with an average age of 42. The majority have a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia but many have multiple diagnoses including affective disorder, learning disabilities, bipolar, and depression.
Around 75% of the patients are ‘restricted’ patients within the jurisdiction of Scottish Ministers; in other words, a prisoner who has committed a crime but is mentally unfit to go to prison. The current average length of stay is six years, with individual lengths of stay ranging from less than one month to over 30 years. Each patient is cared for by a multi-disciplinary clinical team, and all patients have an up-to-date care and treatment plan.
Remuneration and Expectations
- Annual Remuneration (non-pensionable) – £27, 554
- The State Hospitals Board for Scotland Code of Conduct
- 3 days per week time commitment (flexible across the week)
- Board meetings normally take place at Board Headquarters (currently virtual)
- Monthly meetings to participate in national work in (currently virtual)
- Eligible for Expenses (receipt based, travel and subsistence, dependents carers, childcare)
- The Chair appointment to The State Hospitals Board for Scotland will be for two years, with a possible opportunity to extend, and will be subject to any decisions made with regard to the recommendations from the recently published review of forensic mental health services in Scotland.
Chair Profile
More information about the knowledge, skills and experience required for the Chair role can be found in the person specification.
