Dental Department HMP Maidstone

Updated 4 December 2019

HMP Maidstone is a category C prison located in the town centre of Maidstone that holds exclusively foreign national prisoners. The prison accommodates up to 600 adult male prisoners. The prison is operated by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is contracted to provide dental services at HMP Maidstone. The provider is registered to provide the following regulated activities at this location: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury, Diagnostic and screening procedures, and Surgical procedures.

Our last joint inspection with HMIP was in October 2018. The joint inspection report can be found at:

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/02/Maidstone-Web-2018.pdf

Updated 4 December 2019

We carried out an announced focused inspection of dental services provided by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust at HMP Maidstone on 20 and 21 August 2019.

Following a joint inspection with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in October 2018, we found that the quality of services provided by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust at this location required improvement. 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 the inspection was to determine if the service provided by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust was now meeting the legal requirements of the above regulations, under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons.

At this inspection we found that:

• The provider had significantly reduced waiting times for routine dental care.
• Arrangements to support patients experiencing dental pain and those requiring emergency care had improved.
• Systems to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of services were now effective. This included improved monitoring processes and performance audits.