Asked by: Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners have been tested for (1) hepatitis B, (2) hepatitis C, and (3) HIV, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Public Health England (PHE) collects data on people in prison tested for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) via the Sentinel Surveillance Study. This system does not currently receive reports from all prisons in England where testing occurs. Currently 28 prisons report data representing approximately 30% of the standing prison population in England so this data does not represent the total amount of testing currently happening in the prison estate.
Table 1 shows data from this system on the total number of prisoners tested for BBVs in the calendar years 2012-2014. Similar information from this study for the year 2015 will not be available until mid-year 2016. NHS England also collects data on levels of testing for BBVs in prisons via the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs). The numbers of tests for BBVs in these data are presented in Table 2. The higher number is due to the greater coverage of prisons by this dataset. NHS England data is not used for 2012, 2013 and 2014 is not available because HJIPs were only introduced last year.
Asked by: Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what health and social support is in place upon their release for individuals who are diagnosed with blood-borne virus while in prison or a secure institution.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England, Public Health England (PHE) and the National Offender Management Service in their National Partnership Agreement have committed to support continuity of care for patients on transfer from custody to the community. This includes people diagnosed with blood-borne viruses (BBVs). The needs of such individuals will vary depending on the infection and whether they are receiving or need to receive treatment as well as the nature of the treatment itself.
Ensuring patients leaving prison are registered with a general practitioner (GP) in the community is a key component of ensuring ongoing primary and specialist care. GPs are provided with a care summary record when the patient is discharged from prison. Patients are further supported by probation services, including Community Rehabilitation Companies who begin work ‘through the gate’ to support people leaving prisons in accessing accommodation, employment, welfare payments and education.
PHE, the National Offender Management Service and NHS England published their Second National Partnership Agreement published in 2015. The scope of work described in the agreement includes “continuity of care through the prison gate into the community". A copy of the report has been attached.
Asked by: Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of prisoners they plan to test for blood-borne viruses in each of the next five years, in the light of the introduction of opt-out testing in prisons.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Public Health England (PHE) working in partnership with NHS England and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) have been implementing opt-out testing for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) since 2013/14 through a phased implementation programme using ‘pathfinder prisons’ with plans for the programme to be available in every adult prison in England by the end of financial year 2016/17. All consenting eligible adult prisoners will be offered the opportunity to test.
Prisoners eligible for testing include those not known to be infected with BBVs who have not been tested recently and/or who had risk behaviour since their last test. Therefore over the next five years and beyond, we plan to offer tests for BBVs to all adult prisoners who fall into these categories. Phased implementation of the BBV opt-out testing programme in prisons has been informed by evaluation of pathfinder prisons. Preliminary data from suggests a near doubling of BBV testing following the introduction of the opt-out testing policy. Offer, uptake and outcome of testing is being collected by both the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance at prison level as well as through PHE’s sentinel surveillance study.
Asked by: Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of individuals diagnosed with hepatitis C within prison who will commence treatment (1) within prison, and (2) upon release.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England collect data on the offer, uptake and outcome of testing for hepatitis C for people in prison using a system of metrics co-designed with Public Health England (PHE) called the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs). This dataset includes information on whether those requiring treatment were referred to specialist services but does not record details of the treatment provided.
PHE has been working with NHS England and Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) and others on a dataset which would allow for more detailed monitoring of treatments but these have not yet been introduced. Therefore, we do not currently have any data on the number of individuals commenced on treatment for hepatitis C within a prison or other prescribed place of detention in the last 12 months. Further, we do not have data on those former prisoners commenced on treatment in the community.
Asked by: Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals have commenced interferon-free treatment for hepatitis C within a prison or secure institution in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England collect data on the offer, uptake and outcome of testing for hepatitis C for people in prison using a system of metrics co-designed with Public Health England (PHE) called the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs). This dataset includes information on whether those requiring treatment were referred to specialist services but does not record details of the treatment provided.
PHE has been working with NHS England and Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) and others on a dataset which would allow for more detailed monitoring of treatments but these have not yet been introduced. Therefore, we do not currently have any data on the number of individuals commenced on treatment for hepatitis C within a prison or other prescribed place of detention in the last 12 months. Further, we do not have data on those former prisoners commenced on treatment in the community.
Asked by: Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether new Operational Delivery Networks established to manage the treatment of hepatitis C have a duty to ensure equity of access to treatment for prisoners within their catchment area.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England has published the service specification for Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs). The specification directs that ODNs include organisations and providers engaging with populations known to have a high prevalence of infection, such as prisoners, with the view to developing services designed to meet their specific needs. Further, the specification directs that specialist service providers will accept inward referrals of patients for treatment from prisons and other prescribed places of detention. NHS England has worked with each of the ODNs to map every prison to the relevant network and ensure that people in prison are being supported to access treatment.