Prison health

Please note this is an article from the archive and has not been recently updated. For current articles please click here.

Introduction

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)

Equality of care

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.

Flu pandemic planning in prisons

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.

Huntercombe YOI Health Needs Assessment

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.

Prison jargon

For a quick guide to decoding the language used in prisons see here.

Useful links

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
Offender Health Research Network