Prisoners suffer cancelled appointments and poorer healthcare

Prisoners in Britain frequently have hospital appointments cancelled and receive less healthcare than the general public, a new study has found.

As many as 4 in 10 hospital appointments made for a prisoner were cancelled or missed in 2017–18, with missed appointments costing the NHS £2 million.

The in-depth analysis of prison healthcare by the Nuffield Trust think tank examined 110,000 hospital records from 112 prisons in England. It revealed 56 prisoners gave birth during their prison stay, with six prisoners giving birth either in prison or on their way to hospital.

The Nuffield Trust said its findings raised concerns about how prisoners are able to access hospital care after a cut in the number of frontline prison staff and a rising prison population.

Lead author Dr Miranda Davies, a senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said: “The punishment of being in prison should not extend to curbing people’s rights to healthcare. Yet our analysis suggests that prisoners are missing out on potentially vital treatment and are experiencing many more cancelled appointments than non-prisoners.”

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Source: The Independent, 26 February 2020