The diversity of the healthcare workforce often gets talked about with 350+ careers available in the NHS. But being a nurse or paramedic doesn’t just mean working in a hospital or GP practice. The Metropolitan Police, for example, employs more than 120 nurses based in police stations across London.
To improve the service for people held in police custody suites, the Met has been working with the NHS to help more healthcare professionals qualify as non-medical prescribers, bringing huge benefits for them and their patients.
More prescribers means a safer service for the people in custody because they don’t have to wait”
Eoin Bradley is a senior registered nurse who has developed his career in the Metropolitan Police’s custody healthcare team. He explains: “More prescribers means a safer service for the people in custody because they don’t have to wait, they can access treatment much more quickly.
“A lot of the people in custody have alcohol or drug problems. In the past, they had to wait for a doctor to come along and prescribe painkillers or other medications. But with only one or two doctors covering the whole of London, the service was stretched. Many patients struggling with acute detox would up in A&E.

“Our new training approach means we now have healthcare professionals who can prescribe in every police station, staffing levels are the highest they’ve ever been. We are aiming to train a further 40 non-medical prescribers over the next four years which will make things even better.”

The idea for collaboration was born out of a connection between Eoin and Fiona White, a lead nurse in south west London with a varied portfolio. She is quality manager for NHS South West London, a clinical lead for women’s health in Merton and a working nurse practitioner seeing 100 patients a week.
The pair have known each other for years, and when Eoin wanted to qualify as a prescriber, he trained at Fiona’s Morden Hall practice. This got them thinking that better collaboration with GP practices could be a way to boost the numbers of non-medical prescribers in the Met.
As Fiona explained, custody nurses were introduced across London in 2009 to give a consistent service for people who have been detained and are waiting to be released, let out on bail or charged and put on remand.
“I did voluntary work as a custody visitor and appropriate adult in Sutton for 13 years, so I understand the challenges and how the service has to deliver quick accessible care,” she said.
Working with Fiona’s and other practices is enabling us to send a higher number of nurses and paramedics to a dedicated place where they can train alongside an expert.”
The answer was to get more custody nurses to qualify as prescribers. Work to do this was underway, as Eoin explains. “Historically this was a medically-run service but to make it a nurse-led service we needed more prescribers, and it was difficult to release people from a stretched rota so they could attend training.
“Working with Fiona’s and other practices is enabling us to send a higher number of nurses and paramedics to a dedicated place where they can train alongside an expert.”
In terms of benefits for nurses: “It’s really empowering to get that qualification as a prescriber,” says Eoin. “That’s been so beneficial along with the opportunity for joint learning. I learned so much when I worked with Fiona, as have all my colleagues.”
For Fiona, it’s also about giving nurses a variety of opportunities and experiences: “We’re all nurses, we’re all registered under the Nursing and Midwifery Council. It’s about getting rid of barriers, seeing the opportunities where we can support each other.
“And it’s making nursing more exciting, keeping people engaged so they have more satisfaction, are more likely to stay in their job for longer and feel they are really making a difference.”