Care UK Practices has been running the day-today healthcare services at HMP YOI Feltham since April 2013. We spoke with seven prisoners who used the medical services, observed staff-prisoner interactions and reviewed prisoner’s comments and complaints. We also spoke with the head of healthcare, the business and performance manager and clinical staff which included a doctor, nurses and therapists and administration staff. We also spoke with the providers of other services offered at the prison such as dental and mental health care.

We talked with Her Majesty Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) who were inspecting the whole prison at the time of our inspection. We also reviewed the prisoner’s pre-inspection survey carried out by HMIP.

Most of the prisoners we spoke with felt that some of the healthcare staff treated them well. We saw that most staff treated the prisoners in a friendly way, however some staff were less interactive with prisoners while performing the tasks involved. We observed prisoners being treated in privacy when seeing a healthcare professional for treatment, tests or consultations with the doctor or nurse in the healthcare unit. Prisoners were treated in privacy during medication rounds on the wings.

Prisoners told us that they had difficulty getting appointments with doctors and the dentist, however we found that appointment wait times were generally consistent to average waits in the community. Prisoners were generally happy with the healthcare they received from the doctors and nursing staff during appointments.

Staff were trained and supported to deliver the service and meet prisoners’ needs. There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care.