During an assessment under our new approach
Date of assessment: 06 to 08 July 2026
HMP YOI Rochester is a Category C, male adult training and resettlement prison. The prison is located in Rochester. The healthcare services are provided by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.
We carried out a joint independent review of progress (IRP) with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in June 2025, where we found the quality of primary healthcare and medicines required improvement. We issued a warning notice and an action plan request in relation to breaches of regulation found relating to safe care and treatment, complaints, governance and staffing. We followed up these concerns as part of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment in December 2025; the provider had made some improvements, however there was more work to be done. A further warning notice relating to safe care and treatment was served and an action plan request issued in relation to governance and staffing.
The purpose of this focused assessment was to determine if the provider was now meeting the legal requirements of the relevant regulations. At this assessment, we assessed 6 quality statements across the safe, effective, responsive and well-led key questions. We found the provider had made significant improvements in most areas, however, some of the regulations were still not met.
At this assessment, we identified 2 breaches of regulation. The provider remained in breach of the legal requirements in relation to safe care and treatment as well as staffing.
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.
A more stable management team was in place and a business case to increase the establishment had been approved by the commissioners and these posts had been recruited to. Most existing permanent positions had been filled. Systems and processes had been further adapted following our last assessment which had led to a stability in the previous changes which had been made. Communication within the healthcare team as well as between officers and healthcare staff had improved significantly and there was much better cooperation which made a more cohesive service.
However we found that;
Staffing levels frequently fell below expected standards, although, the numbers of staff working each shift had improved significantly since the previous assessment. It was anticipated this would improve further once the newly recruited staff were in post.
Whilst systems and processes had improved to reduce the number of patients who missed their medicines, some patients still missed their medicines. The lack of medicines hatches continued to impact on the ability of staff to administer medicines to patients and on time, and this was not expected to be resolved until 2027.
At the last assessment we issued a warning notice against regulation 12. During this assessment we found that whilst there was still more progress for the service to make, the risk level had reduced sufficiently which meant the warning notice had been superseded by an action plan request.