Examining the Use of Community Service Orders as Alternatives to Short Prison Sentences in Ireland

Ireland’s highly discretionary sentencing system provides a rare opportunity to study the behaviour of judges when relatively free of externally imposed constraints. While this is so, few studies have investigated sentencing trends

Social Services Will Not Touch us with a Barge Pole’: Social Care Provision for Older Prisoners

Older prisoners are the fastest growing subgroup in the English and Welsh prison estate. Older prisoners have high levels of health and social care needs. This mixed method study involved the distribution of a questionnaire examining the availability of health and social care services for older prisoners to all prisons housing adult males in England and Wales, followed by qualitative telephone interviews with representatives from eight prisons. Over half of establishments had some contact with external social care services but reported significant difficulties in arranging care for individuals. A professional lead for older prisoners had been identified in 81% of establishments; however the value of this role to positively affect practice appeared questionable. Statutory social care was often non-existent in prison due to the lack of understanding of what it constituted and who was responsible for its provision

Pharmacokinetics in neonatal prescribing: evidence base, paradigms and the future

Paediatric patients, particularly preterm neonates, present many pharmacological challenges. Due to the difficulty in conducting clinical trials in these populations dosing information is often extrapolated from adult populations. As the processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs change throughout growth and development extrapolation presents risk of over or underestimating the doses required. Information about the development these processes, particularly drug metabolism pathways, is still limited with weight based dose adjustment presenting the best method of estimating pharmacokinetic changes due to growth and development. New innovations in pharmacokinetic research, such as population pharmacokinetic modelling, present unique opportunities to conduct clinical trials in these populations improving the safety and effectiveness of the drugs used. More research is required into this area to ensure the best outcomes for our most vulnerable patients

Navigating a Literacy Rich World: Untethering English Language Learners From the Classroom

Concurrent Session