HMP Highpoint South

We carried out a desk-based review on the healthcare services provided by Care UK Health and Rehabilitation Services Limited at HMP Highpoint in August 2020. Following a joint inspection of HMP Highpoint with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in August 2019, we found that the quality of healthcare provided at this location did not meet regulations. We issued a Requirement Notice in relation to Regulation 17: Good governance, of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The purpose of this review was to determine if the healthcare services provided by Care UK Health & Rehabilitation Services Limited were now meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. 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 prisons.

Background of the service.

HMP Highpoint is a male category C training prison, split across two sites (North and South). Care UK have delivered healthcare services there since 2011.

HMP Highpoint South is a primary healthcare service provided by Care UK Clinical Services Limited. It is one of two locations registered with the Care Quality Commission within HMP Highpoint. The healthcare teams from both locations (North and South) work together to provide primary care, clinical substance misuse and mental health services to all prisoners.

The service is commissioned to provide health care seven days a week between 07:45am and 6:15pm on week days and 08:00am to 6:00pm at weekends. NHS 111 and emergency services were used out of hours, if required.

We last inspected the service jointly with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons 12 -23 August 2019. When we judged the service was in breach of regulation 17, Good governance, under The Health and Social Care Act 2008. We issued a Requirement Notice. At the time of our 2019 inspection Care UK subcontracted the dental services to another provider.

The service is registered to provide personal care, diagnostic and screening procedures and treatment for disease, disorder or injury.

The report on the joint inspection carried out with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons in August 2019 and a report can be found at:

How we carried out this review.

This desk-based review was carried out by a CQC health and justice inspector in discussion with the manager for the health and justice team. We did not visit the prison to carry out this inspection because we were able to gain sufficient assurance through the documentary evidence provided and telephone interviews with relevant service managers.

Documents we reviewed included:

• The providers action plan
• Dental tool equipment logs for the North and South site
• Dental audit for the movement of patients
• The out of hours medication stock checks
• A selection of Quality Assurance minutes
• The HR audit
• The staff supervision log

We also inspected the areas where in the joint report we recommended that the provider should make improvements.

At this inspection we found:

• There was an effective system in place for checking dental tools and equipment daily
• Staff had access to up to date Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) information
• An effective process had been put in place to ensure out of hours medicine stock levels were sufficient to meet patient needs
• Managers had effective oversight of staff supervision
• Care plans for people with long term conditions had been significantly improved
• A local operating procedure had been developed to manage outstanding dental appointments for patients moving between North and South sites.