Oswin – Patient and carer information leaflet

This leaflet provides you with information that you will find useful during your stay. If you are not sure about anything in this leaflet please ask a member of staff.

Adult Forensic Services at St Nicholas Hospital is located at the Bamburgh Clinic in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. Adult Forensic Services provides assessment and treatment for mental illness or personality disorders, for people who may have come into conflict with the law.

There are three wards in the Bamburgh Clinic:
• Aidan
• Cuthbert
• Oswin

Oswin Unit is the specialist medium secure personality disorder unit in the Bamburgh Clinic. The Oswin Unit is one of three national projects commissioned by NHS England and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for the assessment and treatment of Forensic Personality Disorder within Medium Secure conditions. Oswin has eleven inpatient beds. There is a multi-disciplinary team attached to the ward.

The treatment model of the Oswin Unit is a psychologically informed adaptive therapeutic environment in which the multi-disciplinary team helps to engage a diverse group of patients – with a variety of offence histories – to initially stabilise their mental health and risk related behaviours. The development of a shared formulation of care needs and risks helps to inform focused treatment and interventions, exploration of the pathway to offending behaviours, and in particular, the index offence(s).

Oswin aims to provide hospital-based care and attempted therapeutic engagement, primarily for offenders (category B or less) identified on the offender personality disorder pathway. These offenders may be stuck in their prison pathway of care. We take clients who are usually from the North of England, or nationally.

We have a multi-disciplinary team of skilled staff with the main focus of work being group-based engagement. The process of engagement is an opportunity to explore and understand aspects of personality problems that may be associated with offending risks.

When you arrive you will be welcomed by two members of the care team who will co-ordinate your engagement. They will explain what will happen during your stay and give you information that includes ward expectations, and therapeutic engagement plan. You will have time to settle in and have a look around your environment.

The usual initial stabilisation and length of stay on the Oswin Unit is six to nine months at which points there will be a multi-professional care review involving you to consider ongoing focused treatments and risk needs. There will be certain occasions when the length of stay is agreed to be longer and is dependent on your clinical needs. The care team will involve you fully in discussion about this.

The Oswin team will work closely with you and your Offender Manager to help arrive at a clinical/risk formulation that will be useful in your ongoing prison pathway of care and in the community. There are weekly community meetings, therapeutic, occupational and social activities/sessions that will be discussed with you when you first arrive on the ward, and which you agree in your therapeutic engagement plan.

Therapeutic engagement is ongoing and begins with an initial stabilisation phase. This is followed by focused group and individual sessions tailored to meet your care and risk needs. There is a focus on helping you build up positive aspects or strengths, and an opportunity to explore and understand core difficulties relating to offending risks.

Focused interventions (1:1 and group-based) will be offered to help with barriers to further progress. Staff are available to support you and help keep you safe in during your time on Oswin Unit.

Each client will get have his own bedroom with en-suite facilities on the ward. There is a communal areas with games consoles, TVs and quiet rooms, and an internal courtyard with benches.

Staff on the ward will help you to get involved in a variety of planned and structured activities as part of your therapeutic engagement plan.

We have a variety of facilities and things to do on the Bamburgh Clinic, including a large sports barn, two well equipped gyms and areas for activities such as cooking, computers, gardening, arts and music. We also have a multi-faith room you can use for prayer and reflection.

Staff can arrange an interpreter if you need one.

Contact Nexus Traveline: Tel: 0871 200 22 33

Website: www.traveline.info/

If you want to make a comment, suggestion, compliment or complaint you can:
• talk to the people directly involved in your care
• ask a member of staff for a feedback form, or complete a form on the Trust website www.cntw.nhs.uk (click on the ‘Contact Us’ tab)
• telephone the Complaints Department 0191 245 6672
• email [email protected] Please note that information sent to the Trust via email is sent at your own risk
• We are always looking at ways to improve services. Your feedback allows us to monitor the quality of our services and act upon issues that you bring to our attention.
You can provide feedback in the following ways:
– the quickest way for you to do this is to complete our short online survey at
www.cntw.nhs.uk/poy
– complete a Points of You survey, available from staff.

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust Tel:0191 246 6800

Patient Advice and Liaison Service Tel: 0800 032 0202

Oswin
Bamburgh Clinic
St Nicholas Hospital
Jubilee Road
Gosforth
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 3XT
Tel: 0191 246 7260

Further information about the content, reference sources or production of this leaflet can be obtained from the Patient Information Centre.

This information can be made available in a range of formats on request (eg Braille, audio, large print, easy read, BSL or other languages). Please contact the Patient Information Centre Tel: 0191 246 7288.

Published by the Patient Information Centre
2020 Copyright, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Ref, PIC/178/1020 October 2020 V5
www.cntw.nhs.uk Tel: 0191 246 7288
Review date 2023