Printed from Public Healthy (URL:
http://www.publichealthy.com/prisonhealth.aspx
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Prison health
Prison health is a particularly dynamic speciality at the moment because
of recent political changes. Traditionally the healthcare of prisoners
was provided by HM Prison Service. Whilst many prisoners received very
good healthcare under this system, the systems for quality control were not
as rigorous as found in the NHS, and the standards of care varied hugely.
Following publication of a joint Department of Health and Prison Service
report in 1999, there was a gradual handover of the responsibility to
provide healthcare to inmates from the Prison Service (part of the Home
Office) to the local Primary Care Trusts (part of the NHS). This was
done in phases and was completed in April 2006.
The future organisation of prison health care (DH, March 1999)
The main aim of the handover has been to ensure an equal standard of
healthcare for individuals in prison as for those in the community.
This is especially important because many inmates come from deprived
backgrounds and have had less exposure and access to healthcare than the
rest of the population despite having a significantly higher incidence of
mental and sexual health problems.
The Prison Service has recently released a Prison Service Instruction
(PSI) on pandemic flu planning in prisons:
PSI 29/2006 - Contingency planning for pandemic influenza (Word document
289kb, HM Prison Service, Oct 2006)
For more background information on contingency planning please see the
flu pandemic page.
In 2005 I undertook a health needs assessment (HNA) at Huntercombe Young
Offenders' Institution near Henley-on-Thames. This 10-week project was
challenging but very rewarding. In particular I was impressed by the
compassion and caring attitude shown by the staff in the prison, and the
fact that the majority of the inmates ('Trainees') were in custody as a
result of their background and circumstance, rather than because they were
fundamentally 'bad' people.
You can download the Executive Summary of the HNA here:
Huntercombe
HNA - executive summary (pdf, 79kb, May 2005)
Encouragingly, a year after the HNA was carried out, an
HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on Huntercombe (HMIP, May 2006)
commented that healthcare had significantly improved since their last
inspection and that links with the local PCT were strong.
If you are interested in Prison health and would like to see a full copy
of the needs assessment, please
contact me.
For a quick guide to decoding the language used in prisons see
here.
Further information on the subject of Prison Health and the Prison
Service can be found on the sites below:
University of
Birmingham Prison Health Department
Department of Health Prison Health Policy Unit
Youth Justice Board
HM Inspectorate of Prisons inspection reports
HM Prison Service
Health in Prisons Project
Prison Health Research Network