§ Sir Raymond PowellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the review of prison nursing services to be completed. [38811]
§ Ms QuinThe consultation period on the nursing policy paper circulated on 21 October 1997 closed on 20 February 1998. The results of the consultation provided much useful feedback but produced no consensus on the proposals.
The position and role of nurses in the provision of health care to prisoners also forms part of the remit of the Joint Prison Service/National Health Service (NHS) Working Group established last autumn. The Joint Group is tasked to look at the broader question of the organisation of prisoners' health care, including whether the NHS should become the provider. The results of the consultation on the nursing policy paper are helping to inform the deliberations of the Joint Group and are being taken forward in the context of that work.