• Prison healthcare

Archived: HMP Durham

HMP Durham, Old Elvet, Durham, County Durham, DH1 3HU

Provided and run by:
Practice Plus Group Hospitals Limited

Important: This service was previously managed by a different provider - see old profile

All Inspections

During a check to make sure that the improvements required had been made

Care UK Clinical Services Ltd hold the overarching lead for all the healthcare services in HMP Durham but they subcontract some of the services to other providers. The healthcare manager ensures working relationships between all providers lead to a joined up experience of healthcare. During CQC inspections of this provider we only consider the services they directly provide and this is the nursing care delivered on the wings and in-patient unit. The other providers such as the GP, mental health services and outpatient consultants are also regulated by CQC so we inspect and report on them separately.

Care UK Clinical Services Limited specifically provide nurse practitioners who deliver services similar to community healthcare and run an in-patient unit. The healthcare facilities have undergone major refurbishment and at the time HMIP visited in December 2013 this had just been completed. We found that the refurbishment programme had naturally had an impact on access to appointments but new a telephone system for prisoners to use for appointments had been introduced. This system mirrored the options available for people in the community and had improved the accessibility to nursing services.

Since our last visit in 2011 the provider had produced a national substance misuse prescribing policy for their organisation and this ensured a consistent approach was used. We found that action had been taken to deal with the issues noted in the prison in 2011.

3 October 2011

During a routine inspection

Prisoners said that it was easier to access all health professionals at HMP Durham, other than pharmacists, than at other prisons. However there was reduced satisfaction with the quality of care from GPs. Prisoners told us that the care and treatment that they receive is good and they are allowed to manage their long-term medical conditions as they would at home. We were told by prisoners of dissatisfaction over changes to prescribing practices.