§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce prison nursing services run jointly with the local NHS trust hospital in the area of the prison; and if he will make a statement. [111465]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeImprovements to the way nursing services are organised and delivered in prison are an essential part of the reforms to prison healthcare now underway following the Government's acceptance of the recommendations in the joint Prison Service/ National Health Service Executive report, 'The Future Organisation of Healthcare' published in March 1999.
Prisons and health authorities are jointly assessing prisoners' health needs at establishment level in order to identify, among other things, ways of delivering nursing services which both meet those needs and are integrated with local provision. One particular objective will be to ensure that nursing staff who work in prisons enjoy the same level of professional involvement, clinical supervision and training as their colleagues who work in the National Health Service. To assist this my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for the Home Office asked Ms Liz Haggard of the Office of Public Management to chair a working group to consider the development of the prison nursing workforce, with particular reference to healthcare officers, and report, with recommendations, by mid-March 2000.