Almost half of England’s jails are providing inadequate medical care to inmates, whose health is being damaged by widespread failings. Healthcare behind bars is so poor in some prisons that offenders die because staff do not respond properly to medical emergencies, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) says. The mixture of NHS and private companies that provide healthcare in England’s 113 adult jails and young offender institutions “frequently struggle to deliver safe and effective services”, the commission tells MPs.
Mental health services for the 40% of inmates who have psychological or psychiatric problems are particularly weak, which contributes to self-harming and suicides among prisoners.
It blames chronic understaffing, problems getting to medical appointments and guards knowing too little about ill health to recognise problems.
Mental health services for the 40% of inmates who have psychological or psychiatric problems are particularly weak, which contributes to self-harming and suicides among prisoners.
It blames chronic understaffing, problems getting to medical appointments and guards knowing too little about ill health to recognise problems.
The document details a litany of problems including:
• Mental health nurses are unable to assess, care for and treat prisoners because they are too busy responding to inmates having breakdowns or being given drugs.
• Shortages of prison guards to escort them means prisoners are missing out on NHS appointments outside the jail.
• Inspectors frequently find “inadequate mental health awareness among prison staff and their inability to recognise mental health issues and seek appropriate support for prisoners”.
• Incarceration can worsen prisoners’ existing conditions or lead to them developing new problems as a result of “limited exercise and exposure to sunlight (causing vitamin D deficiency), poor diet, illicit drug availability, assault/injury, exposure to communicable diseases, psychological deterioration, self-harm and suicidal ideation”.
• Follow-up inspections frequently reveal “poor progress in achieving the intended improvements”.
Professor Steve Field, the CQC’s chief inspector of primary medical services and integrated care, added: “During our programme of inspection in partnership with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, we have found some poor care and I have serious concerns that the issues we have found are affecting the health of some the most vulnerable people in society."
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