Written question asked by Paul Stinchcombe (Labour) on Thursday, 26 June 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 July 2003. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Monday, 7 July 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prisons in England and Wales have (a) doctors, (b) nurses, (c) doctors or nurses and (d) doctors and nurses available to practice health care (i) 24 hours a day, (ii) 12 hours a day, (iii) every other day, (iv) twice a week and (v) once a week. - Inc figures and fact that info is not available in form requested.

Answer: Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisons in England and Wales have (a) doctors, (b) nurses, (c) doctors or nurses and (d) doctors and nurses available to practice health care (i) 24 hours a day, (ii) 12 hours a day, (iii) every other day, (iv) twice a week and (v) once a week. [122970] Paul Goggins: The information is not available in the form requested. Under the Prison Act 1952, every prison must have a medical officer. The provision of health services in an establishment is organised around its health care centre. Health care centres fall into one of four categories according to the level of service provided and are staffed appropriately to fulfill their particular function. There are 23 Type 1 and 45 Type 2 health care centres at which only daytime health care cover is provided, generally by part-time staff in the former and full-time staff in the latter. There are 68 Type 3 health care centres, which have in-patient facilities and 24-hour nurse cover, and four Type 4 facilities, which have the same level of provision but act as national or regional assessment centres.

Secondary information