Archived: HMP Leicester

We saw that improvements had been made to the range of information that was available to people about the healthcare service. Arrangements had been made to better protect the dignity and privacy of people using the healthcare service.

We found that improvements had been made to the amount of time people waited for an appointment for various clinics. There was a clear treatment pathway in place for people with mental health needs. A new system had been put into place to acknowledge an appointment request. This meant that people knew their request had been received and acted upon. Staff were using the SystmOne discharge checklist to ensure that important questions were answered before a person was discharged or their treatment transferred to another provider.

We saw that the standard of cleanliness of work surfaces in clinical areas was generally acceptable. However we saw that the standard of cleanliness in general areas was not of the same standard. For example there was ingrained dirt in some flooring and areas where dirt had collected over a period of time. The manager told us that the flooring was due to be replaced shortly after our inspection. There was suitable information displayed in various places in the healthcare building about effective hand washing techniques.

We looked at the training records that were provided by the manager. This showed that staff had completed the majority of training that the trust deemed to be mandatory. The staff we spoke with felt supported in their role and appreciated having the time to spend discussing their personal development.

After our previous inspection the provider told us that they would carry out a satisfaction survey with people who used the service. We were told that the survey had not been carried out as planned. Improvements had been made to the complaints procedure and this was made available to people using the service. Regular staff meetings were taking place, which gave staff the opportunity to provide feedback about the service.

Incidents and errors were being reported and investigated accordingly. We saw that, where a more serious incident had occurred, the learning from this incident was shared with the wider staff team. However we did not see evidence of how the provider was analysing patterns of incidents and working to prevent them happening again.

We spoke with seven prisoners who had used the healthcare service. They were positive about the way staff interacted with them. Privacy and dignity of prisoners was not always maintained. The prisoners we spoke with were complimentary about the treatment they received. Waiting times for some services were excessive. There was a high percentage of appointments that were missed. There was no clear system in place to look at why appointments were being missed or to improve attendance rates.

There were arrangements in place for prisoners to attend appointments with other service providers. Information wasn't always shared with other departments within the prison to ensure the prisoner's safety and well-being. The healthcare centre was not of an appropriate standard of cleanliness because guidelines about infection prevention and control had not been followed.

There were gaps in provision of training and supervision to staff, however there were plans in place to address this. Staff told us they felt supported by their manager. Some audits had been carried out which had identified shortcomings in the quality of service provided. The provider did not always have effective systems in place to learn from incidents and complaints in order to improve the service.