Liverpool trust stops delivering prison health service early

The regulator carried out an unannounced inspection at the health suite of HM Prison Liverpool, in Walton, on 31 October and 1 November in response to concerns that standards were not being met.

The trust had already confirmed in November that it would not retender to run offender health services in future when the contract comes up again in June.

Lancashire Care Foundation Trust and Mersey Care Trust stepped in as interim providers on 1 January until the tendering process for the new contract is completed at the end of June.

The CQC found that Liverpool Community Health was not meeting the required standards for care and welfare of prisoners using its services; management of medicines; staffing; and monitoring the quality of services.

Nurse and GP shortages meant the healthcare team was not always able to deliver services at peak times, and the crisis intervention team was insufficiently staffed.

• CQC could become enforcer of ‘zero harm’ rules
• More news and resources on the CQC

One staff member told inspectors there was “low morale and a blame culture” within the health suite team.

Inspectors found loose tablets that had been popped out of their blister packs in the inpatient unit and one of the wings, some of which were unidentifiable.

A Liverpool Community Health Trust spokeswoman said it was “reassuring” that the CQC pinpointed “no areas for improvement that we had not already identified and highlighted to the CQC before the inspection last year”.

She said the trust had undertaken a “significant change programme” including the introduction of a medicines management team, extra training and new IT equipment.

However, she said that because offender health services was “an increasingly specialist area… the trust confirmed last year that it would not bid for the tender to run offender health services in the future”.

She added: “This will enable the improvements that have been made to be sustained and taken forward, and enable Liverpool Community Health Trust to continue its focus on the delivery of more NHS services closer to where people live.”