- Prison healthcare
HMP Bedford
Assessment report published 25 September 2025
Contents
Judgements
Our view of the service
HMP Bedford is a Category B, reception and resettlement prison. The prison is located in Bedford and accommodates up to 400 adult male prisoners. The healthcare services are provided by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) trust.
We carried out a joint inspection with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in August 2024, where we found the quality of healthcare required improvement. We followed up the concerns identified in April 2025 and served a warning notice in relation to breaches of regulation relating to regulation 12 safe care and treatment (specifically relating to patients who were residing or had resided on the inpatient unit as well as patients who required support from the mental health team). The service was required to become compliant with these concerns by 01 August 2025. We also identified breaches in regulation 17 good governance and regulation 18 staffing, and we issued an action plan request, the provider was given more time to address these concerns.
The purpose of this focused assessment was to determine if the provider was now meeting the legal requirements of regulation 12. At this assessment, we assessed 4 quality statements across safe, effective and responsive. We found that the service had made significant improvement and were compliant with the breaches in relation to regulation 12.
At this assessment, we found no breaches of regulation. A separate assessment of regulations 17 and 18 will take place at a future date.
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.
In instances where CQC has decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.
People's experience of this service
People who used the service told as that they received good care from staff, that staff were kind and caring and supported them to meet their healthcare needs.