Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that all women's prisons have (1) paediatric, and (2) neonatal, emergency equipment; and how they intend to ensure that all healthcare staff are trained in paediatric and neonatal resuscitation.

NHS England and NHS Improvement is responsible for commissioning virtually all healthcare services in prisons in England, including clinical services for pregnant women.

Basic resuscitation equipment only is provided in prisons. NHS England and NHS Improvement has consulted experts in the field of neonatal resuscitation, following which a decision was taken not to provide neonatal resuscitation equipment in prisons due to the highly specialised nature of neonatal resuscitation, which requires specialist training, equipment and immediate access to highly qualified and skilled staff. Should these staff not be available there is a risk that the equipment could be used by untrained staff which risks harming the baby.

All healthcare staff should receive relevant first aid training, including basic adult life support and what to do in emergency situations where specialist neonatal resuscitation is required. This normally includes seeking a rapid response from the local ambulance service who can guide staff through cardiopulmonary resuscitation/rescue breaths and keeping the baby warm until the local ambulance service are in attendance.

While the training of staff employed by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service working in prisons is a matter for that organisation, as the commissioner for NHS services in prisons, NHS England and NHS Improvement seeks evidence that commissioned healthcare providers field competent and appropriately-trained staff to fulfil specific requirements in their contractual obligations.