Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce delays in prisoners accessing emergency hospital care.

Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and that prison staff are aware of their own responsibilities and of the local procedures in place to support a streamlined response.

Responses to medical emergencies in prisons are undertaken and monitored locally by both prison staff and healthcare staff. Prison staff will secure the attendance of medical staff. During the day, or where a prison has 24-hour healthcare, commissioned healthcare staff will assess what intervention is needed and determine whether hospital treatment is required. Prison staff will arrange for an ambulance to attend, if needed, and escort it to the nearest, safest point of access to the patient, ensuring arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded locally.

Any incidents, including the time taken to respond, are discussed between prison and healthcare staff, either as part of a full debrief (in the case of the most serious incidents) or as part of the regular daily reflection on the events of the previous day.