At a previous inspection of HMP Elmley in June 2014 we had concerns about the administration and management of medicines. We asked the provider, Integrated Care 24, to submit an action plan telling us what action they would take to improve the management of medicines.

We undertook a follow up inspection visit of the service provided at HMP Elmley on the 23 March 2015. We found that there were systems and processes in place or being implemented at the time of our inspection visit that ensured that medicine administration was safe and well managed. Audits and checks were in place and supervision of medicine administration had improved.

Integrated Care 24 (IC24) had taken over the service in February 2013. It was responsible for primary health care services and worked with other providers including GPs, mental health and substance misuse services.

Prisoners felt that individual healthcare staff treated them with respect. Comments we heard from prisoners in the in-patient unit included,” … nurses are there all day and you can always have a chat … I get all the info (information) I need and it is explained”. Another prisoner told us, "Staff are very good at calming people down … it is very serene”. Prisoners outside the in-patient unit felt the individual healthcare staff treated them well but were often very busy. Many of the prisoners that we spoke with expressed concerns about how they received their medicines. One prisoner described the medicines management as “sporadic”.