Care UK wins new offender healthcare contracts and helps prisoners to play a greater role in their o

Company news

Mar 04, 2014

NHS England has awarded the healthcare contracts for HMP Brixton and HMP Pentonville to independent health and social care provider Care UK, the largest single provider of healthcare to HM Prison Service.

The contracts – which will see Care UK provide a full range of primary care and mental health services – will run for five years with the option of two 12 month extensions.

Ross Dowsett, regional director for prison health at Care UK, said: “We won the contracts 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.

“We are also able to offer business efficiencies and strategic knowledge because of our position as the leading provider of healthcare services. We can draft in expertise from across the country and that will always be attractive to commissioners who are interested in excellent care as well as cost efficiencies.”

The Care UK teams in the two London prisons will comprise of around 80 nurses, pharmacists, managers and administrators, with mental health, physiotherapy, podiatry, ophthalmology, dentistry and peer support services being subcontracted. Care UK will be working with Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, Premier Physiotherapy, Liberty Needs Glasses, Certitude and Time for Teeth.

Ross added: “Our experience in prisons across the country shows that by encouraging prisoners to take an active role in their own welfare their overall rehabilitation also improves.”

The teams will also work to educate prisoners in how to manage chronic health problems such as asthma and diabetes as well as building elements of health education into some prisoners’ care plans in order to improve health generally throughout the prisons’ populations.

These contract wins further enhance Care UK’s reputation as a leading provider of prison healthcare across the UK. The organisation runs health services at 21 prisons and young offender institutions in London, Essex, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, the Isle of Wight and the North East of England.