Care UK chosen to run healthcare services at Staffordshire prison and invests in new pharmacy

Company news

Dec 17, 2014

Offender healthcare and rehabilitation at HMP Dovegate is set to strengthen as independent sector health and social care provider Care UK, the largest single provider of healthcare to prisons in England, takes over healthcare services at the Uttoxeter facility.

The partnership with NHS England, which runs for five years, brings the number of prisons and young offender institutions supported by Care UK to 22.

HMP Dovegate is a category B training prison for people with less than 18 months left to serve of their sentence. Care UK will be providing a full range of services including primary care, dentistry and optical care for around 1,100 offenders.

The team will also work to educate prisoners about their chronic health problems, such as asthma and diabetes, to manage their conditions as well as building elements of health education into some prisoners’ care plans in order to improve health generally.

To enable this Care UK is investing in a new pharmacy within the prison. Angela Krige, head of pharmacy services said: “We believe in having an in-house pharmacy service as it enables us to better educate prisoners about being responsible for their own health and wellbeing and it gives them the opportunity to talk to their pharmacist about their medication, or to chat through general health issues that don’t need a doctor’s appointment.”

Care UK will also develop its first psycho-social care programme, which is designed to help offenders understand and control their emotions, so reducing the likelihood of re-offending behaviour.

Ross Dowsett, service director for health in justice at Care UK, said: “We were chosen to run the service because of our commitment to providing a quality service, driven by the recovery model which will see us using highly-tailored healthcare to improve prisoners’ health and wellbeing and radically reduce the risk of further offending.

“This is also an exciting opportunity for us to work with a new NHS England area team as well as the well regarded South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, who is our mental health partner.”

“Our experience in prisons across the country shows that encouraging prisoners to take an active role in their own welfare improves their overall rehabilitation and we are confident that this, teamed with the psycho-social programme, will bring a tangible benefit to those in HMP Dovegate.”