§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he intends to take to ensure that all prisons have a healthcare manager, following the report of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in 1994; and if he will make a statement. [16368]
§ Ms QuinFigures for 1996–97 indicate that health care managers have been appointed in at least 122 Prison Service establishments. Governors are not obliged to follow any particular model in setting up their management teams. However, the issue of health care managers, among others, will be examined by a joint Prison Service/Department of Health Working Group which has been set up in response to the 1996 Report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons "Patient or Prisoner?", to look at the whole question of the future delivery of health care to prisoners.