Summary of findings

We undertook a focused inspection on the 6 and 7 November 2018 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The purpose of the inspection was to follow up on a Requirement Notice that we issued following a previous focused inspection in October 2017 and to check that the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. Prior to our inspection we received intelligence from a partner organisation about arrangements in respect of medicines management when prisoners were released from HMP Forest Bank or when they were transferred to another prison. We widened the inspection to include some aspects of medicines management.

Before the inspection we reviewed a range of information that we held about the service. Following the announcement of the inspection we requested a range of information from the provider, which we reviewed. During the inspection we asked the provider to share with us further information. We also spoke with healthcare staff, other healthcare partners, prison staff, commissioners and prisoners, and sampled a range of records.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons.

At this inspection we found:

• Prisoners with primary mental health needs could access care and treatment within an appropriate timescale
• Prisoners with mild to moderate mental health issues had access to planned ongoing responsive treatment that met their needs including access to therapies.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Develop a referral pathway for prisoners with a learning disability that effectively meets their needs and provides appropriate support.
• Ensure that primary mental health prisoners are referred to and are seen at the newly established primary mental health psychiatric clinic.
• Ensure that systems and processes effectively monitor service quality, and particularly recent service improvements. This should include, initial health screening; access to the psychiatrist.