Archived: HMP Channings Wood

Updated 5 September 2019

HMP Channings Wood is a Category C training and resettlement prison in Devon which houses prisoners serving a wide range of sentence lengths, predominantly transferred from prisons across the South West. It has an operational capacity of 724.

Care UK is the main health provider at HMP Channings Wood. Care UK is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities at the location: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury, Diagnostic and screening procedures, and Personal care.

Our last joint inspection with HMIP was in September 2018. The joint inspection report can be found at: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/02/Channings-Wood-Web-2018.pdf

Updated 5 September 2019

We carried out an announced focused inspection of healthcare services provided by Care UK Health and Rehabilitation Services Limited (Care UK) at HMP Channings Wood from 1 to 3 July 2019. This was carried out alongside a visit from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) to follow up progress on previous inspection recommendations.

Following our last joint inspection with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in September 2018, we found that the quality of healthcare provided by Care UK at this location required improvement. We issued Requirement Notices in relation to Regulation 9 (Person-centred care), Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment), Regulation 17 (Good governance) and Regulation 18 (Staffing) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The purpose of the focused inspection was to determine if the healthcare services provided by Care UK were meeting the legal requirements of the above regulations, under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

At this inspection we found that improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulations.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons.

At this inspection we found:

• Prisoners with social care needs received appropriate support in accordance with their care plans.
• All prisoners were given the opportunity to receive a secondary health screening.
• Translation services were available during the reception screening process.
• Patients very rarely experienced delays in receiving their prescribed medicines.
• Patients received appropriate prescribed medicines on release and transfer.
• Robust governance systems enabled effective monitoring of the quality of service delivery.
• Staff felt supported. A new system had been implemented to encourage better documentation to evidence when supervision had taken place.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

Ensure that all patients with a diagnosed long-term condition have personalised care plans in place.