Clinicians and nurses are set to work directly from probation offices in crime hotspots and sit in on appointments between offenders and probation staff.
NHS professionals will screen up to 4,000 offenders for issues such as mental health and drug or alcohol misuse and refer them to services aimed at directly tackling addictions that can affect their criminality.
The scheme will also offer offenders with mental and chronic health issues or neurodivergent conditions stronger links to other services such as their local GP practice and local authority housing officers, helping them to stay away from crime.
Evidence shows offenders on probation are far more likely than the general public to experience mental health and addiction issues, which are proven to increase the likelihood of reoffending.
It is estimated that up to half of the adult prison population, could be considered neurodivergent – covering a range of conditions and disorders such as learning disabilities and acquired brain injuries.
The project is being piloted in four areas plagued by high levels of reoffending and will also aim to reduce the amount of missed GP appointments and hospital readmissions, which cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds every year.
Baroness Gillian Merron, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women’s Health and Mental Health: "Too many people caught in the cycle of reoffending also struggle with poor health. Untreated mental health conditions, addiction and chronic illness make it far harder to turn your life around.
"These Health Hubs are about breaking this cycle - preventing reoffending and demands on the NHS, because prevention is better than cure.
"By providing offenders with a health assessment and the right support, we’re giving them a real shot at rebuilding their lives. That means healthier communities and safer streets."
Dr Dianne Addei, Director of Healthcare Inequalities Improvement, NHS England said: "For the first time, healthcare staff will be working directly with thousands of offenders in probations offices that they regularly attend to ensure they have access to support for a range of issues including registering with GP practices, screening, mental health, and addiction services.
"We know that people released from prison often have poorer health outcomes, and evidence shows that the faster you intervene the more likely you are to see improvements, so this new scheme is a vital step to boosting people’s health at the same times as reducing their likelihood of reoffending.
"And these new hubs will provide a bright new opportunity to reduce health inequalities by bringing community health and probation services together."
