Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench) on Monday, 24 April 2023, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 May 2023. It was answered by Lord Markham (Conservative) on Friday, 5 May 2023 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Health Services: Prisoners

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made in recent years with regard to implementing the principle of equivalence of healthcare received by prisoners with that received by the general public; and in particular, what steps they have taken to reduce the turnover of health personnel in prisons, thus reducing the need for agency personnel.

Answer

NHS England has a mandated responsibility to support the equivalence of healthcare across the detained estate. Since 2013, a number of measures have been introduced to ensure this equivalence. This includes people in contact with the justice system being a part of the CORE20+5 initiative to reduce health inequalities, as well as identifying areas for service improvement across the detained estate.

In 2020, NHS England and the Ministry of Justice introduced the Inclusive Workforce Programme, which has been designed to support regional commissioners with recruitment and retention across the health and justice workforce. This included a national benchmarking exercise to ensure that actions taken by the regions and services are informed by data and included the development of career and competence frameworks for all roles within prison healthcare, including online courses introducing people to the career options available in this setting.

The Inclusive Workforce Programme has recently undertaken a range of online events to promote and help address a range of recruitment and retention issues. There is also currently a marketing campaign being developed, under the larger ‘We are the NHS’ recruitment campaign, targeting student nurses to encourage them into prison healthcare services. There is ongoing work by Health and Justice commissioners to support retention of staff with all providers as well as market engagement to generate quality provider and staff capacity across England.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL7403
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Health services Prisoners
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk