Archived: HMP Blundeston

In November 2013 we asked the provider for an updated action plan and a report on their progress towards achieving compliance. It was agreed that a follow up visit to check compliance would not be proportionate in view of the provider's imminent application to cancel their registration of the location. Further information was received from the provider in early December 2013 that demonstrated continued improvement. The provider also anticipated that the prison would close as planned by the end of December 2013. They told us that by mid December they expected there to be only 30 people receiving their service.

We found that the provider had carried out their planned improvements to ensure compliance with outcomes 9 (management of medicines) and 14 (supporting staff).

We found that the provider had made significant improvements to all the areas of non-compliance we had previously identified. The leadership of the healthcare service had been strengthened and this meant that we were able to collect more robust evidence on this occasion. However, most of the provider's improvements had only been recently introduced. This meant that we were unable to fully assess their effectiveness in sustaining this over time.

During our inspection we spoke with eleven people using the service. Their feedback did not relate to all of the standards we inspected, but they told us that they were mostly happy with the healthcare that they received. The length of time they had to wait to see a dentist and difficulties with receiving their medicines in a timely way were the only areas of concern they raised. We found that the provider was aware of these issues and was taking action to address them. People we spoke with told us that staff were caring and helpful. One person described healthcare staff as '...brilliant.'

A survey and focus groups were completed with prisoners as part of the inspection process. Prisoners we spoke with were consistently unhappy with healthcare. Satisfaction with quality (35%) was significantly less than a previous survey completed in 2011 (50%) and feedback from similar prisons (45%). Of the respondents to the inspection survey 45% rated the overall quality of the healthcare service as bad or very bad. One respondent described healthcare as 'chaotic and insufficient.' However, another was positive saying, 'They have helped me to quit smoking.'

Prisoners told us that they saw a healthcare professional on arrival at the prison for an initial screening and that this worked well. Individuals were happy that they could be seen at a daily triage clinic if they had an urgent healthcare problem. However, we were told that waiting times to see other healthcare professionals, such as GPs were longer than at other prisons.

Many of the less complimentary comments we received from prisoners were about the arrangements for prescribing and the administration of medicines, particularly for patients receiving treatment for addiction.