• Prison healthcare

HMP Ranby

Straight Mile, Ranby, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 8EU (01777) 862000

Provided and run by:
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

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

All Inspections

7 and 8 December 2016

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Medicines management issues had been identified at the last two inspections, where a breach in Regulation 12 had been identified in July 2016. This related to risks associated with the proper and safe management of medicines, which had not been identified or mitigated effectively. Findings included limited medicines administration times and medicines not being administered at the optimum therapeutic dose intervals. At this focused inspection, efforts to address issues raised by the joint HMIP and CQC inspection in September 2015, and the CQC focused follow-up inspection in July 2016 were evident; action plans were submitted with numerous targets achieved. However, at the time of this inspection, these breaches remained, but new areas were also highlighted which caused concern. Although medicines management had improved, there was still progress to be made.

There remained numerous amounts of tradable medicines which were issued in possession, however, work was underway to reduce this.

Despite some improvements, to the prison regime, some prescribed medicines were still not issued at therapeutic time intervals, and night medicines were been administered too early,. This was particularly evident over the weekend period when the clinical staff’s working hours and the restrictions of the prison regime meant prisoners received night time medicines too early.

Medicines administration times were short and at times rushed which put the clinical staff under pressure and increased the risk of errors.

The transport of medicines was not safe as they were not held in a secured container whilst staff located them around the prison.

Documentation was not well maintained in recording the levels of stock drugs and completing the controlled drug register, where discrepancies were found.

On a local level, the service had experienced leadership with a commitment to improve. However, the limited provision of a pharmacist meant overarching operational clinical management was restricted in relation to medicines management. Meetings had been commenced with key stakeholders in the prison to discuss and review medicines management issues, but this was in it’s development stage.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Although progress had been made, issues surrounding the safe storage, transport and administration of medicines were still concerning, which was on on-going breach of Regulation 12.

  • Medicines administration remained constrained by the prison regime and the operational hours of the healthcare service, which limited its therapeutic effect.

  • The medicines management policy was not prison specific and related to the wider trust. This meant there was no specific guidance on medicines management for prison healthcare staff.

5 & 6 July 2016

During an inspection looking at part of the service

On 5 and 6 July 2016 we undertook a focused inspection. At this inspection we found that the provider had taken some action to satisfy the recommendations made by HMI Prisons following their September 2015 inspection and the subsequent recommendations of HM Coroner in March 2016.

Our key findings were:

  • We found that most of the necessary improvements to the safety, effectiveness and responsiveness of the service had been made.

  • The systems for obtaining and learning from feedback from patients were robust.

  • Some improvements were incomplete but there were robust plans to ensure service development was achieved.

  • Further work was required to improve the safety and effectiveness of medicines management.

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

Following our March 2014 inspection the trust sent us an action plan to show how they would make improvements to the management of complaints by July 2014. Subsequently we received information from the trust that demonstrated that the planned improvements were being completed.

People were made aware of the complaints system and this was provided in a format that met their needs.

People's complaints were managed effectively and resolved, where possible, to their satisfaction.

17, 18 March 2014

During a themed inspection looking at Offender Healthcare

People had access to healthcare services with the exception of some specialist clinics. However, we received mixed views from people about the service they received. In a survey conducted by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons only 31% of respondents rated the healthcare service as good or very good. People we spoke with reported variable experiences, but many were positive. One person said, 'I feel the health service saved my life.'

Some of the information made available to people was not presented in an accessible format. We brought this to the attention of senior staff during our inspection

Healthcare staff worked effectively with the prison and other partners to meet people's needs.

The safety and quality of the service that people received was monitored effectively. Improvements were made in response to shortfalls identified by monitoring.

Improvements had been made to the arrangements for managing complaints. People were made aware of the complaints system. However, complainants were not always supported to make a complaint, or to receive an appropriate response to their complaints.