The Care Quality Commission
  • Prison healthcare

HMP Grendon & Springhill

Grendon Underwood, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP18 0TL (01296) 445000

Provided and run by:
Practice Plus Group Health and Rehabilitation Services Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

HMP Grendon is a Category B training prison which accommodates up to 218 men with varying sentences in a therapeutic community. The prison is located in a rural area in Buckinghamshire and is operated by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.

Health services at HMP Grendon are commissioned by NHS England. The contract for the provision of health care services is held by Practice Plus Group (PPG).

At our previous inspection in April 2024, we found the management and oversight of medicines at this location required improvement. We issued a Requirement Notice in relation to Regulation 17, Good governance. This report can be found here:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-4053555946

The purpose of this inspection was to determine if the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and patients were receiving well-led care and treatment. It was carried out by a Health and Justice inspector and a pharmacist specialist.

During this inspection, we looked at 1 quality statement and reviewed the breach of regulation from the last inspection. We spoke with health care staff, reviewed systems and procedures, and sampled a range of patients’ clinical records. We found that sufficient improvements had been made, and PPG was no longer in breach of the regulation. Staffing levels had improved, operating procedures had been reviewed, patients’ medicines reviews had increased and access to the pharmacy had been restricted to ensure better security.

10 April 2024

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out a focussed announced inspection of healthcare services provided by Practice Plus Group Health and Rehabilitation Services (PPG) at HMP Grendon. At the last inspection, we found the quality of healthcare provided by PPG at this location required improvement. We issued a Requirement Notice in relation to Regulation 17, Good governance to the provider.

The purpose of this inspection was to determine if the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and that prisoners were receiving safe care and treatment. At this inspection we found that some improvements had been made, however we found that improvements were still required.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

At this inspection we found:

  • Care planning had improved and those sampled were person centred.
  • A system was in place to ensure care plans were audited and improvements made as required.
  • Applications for healthcare appointments were collected daily and there was reasonable access to GP appointments.
  • Improvements had been made in some areas of medicines management such as access to remote prescribing support.

The provider must:

  • Ensure that robust procedures are embedded with regards to the supply of minor ailment and emergency medicines, stock checks and records are maintained for patients who have received these.