HMP Durham

We carried out an announced follow up inspection of healthcare services provided by Spectrum Community Health C.I.C. (Spectrum) at HMP Durham to follow up on requirement notices issued after our last inspection in November 2021.

At the last inspection, we found the quality of healthcare provided by Spectrum at this location required improvement. We issued Requirement Notices in relation to Regulation 12, Safe care and treatment and Regulation 17, Good governance.

The purpose of this inspection was to determine if the healthcare services provided by Spectrum were meeting the legal requirements of the requirement notices that we issued in March 2022, and to determine if the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and that prisoners were receiving safe care and treatment.

At this inspection we found the required improvements had been made and the provider was meeting the regulations.

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.

At this inspection we found:

• Staff identified any urgent clinical need during the reception screening process.
• Overnight safety checks were carried out and recorded.
• Patients with long-term conditions were identified and offered appropriate care.
• The staffing of healthcare teams had improved and recruitment was ongoing. Waits for a GP appointment were much shorter.
• Staff took appropriate action when patients did not attend to collect their medicines.
• The service was responsive to patients’ needs and anything urgent was prioritised.
• There was increased capacity within the healthcare leadership team.
• Governance processes relating to record keeping and monitoring of waiting lists and triage of patient applications had improved.