Pinewood House

We carried out an announced focused inspection of healthcare services provided by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust at HMP & YOI Rochester on 11 July 2023.

Following our last joint inspection with HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in September 2022, we found that the quality of healthcare provided by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust at this location required improvement. We re-issued a Requirement Notice in relation to Regulation 17, Good Governance, of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The purpose of this focused inspection was to determine if the healthcare services provided were meeting the legal requirements of the Requirement Notice that we issued in November 2022 and to find out if patients were receiving safe care and treatment.

At this inspection we found the required improvements had been made in relation to Regulation 17, Good Governance. However, the provider was in breach of Regulation 16, Receiving and Acting on Complaints.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons.

At this inspection we found:

• Systems and processes were not effective in monitoring and managing responses to complaints.
• Complaints were not always responded to in line with the provider’s complaints policy.
• Quality of responses and investigations did not always reflect the nature of the complaint or indicate if it had been upheld or not.
• Staff had not received training in responding to complaints.
• Most complaints reviewed did not include an apology or clear information on how patients could escalate their concerns.

However;

• The number of complaints had reduced significantly.
• Managers maintained accurate records of staff training, including incident reporting and medicines management.
• Staff reported incidents and shared learning following incidents.
• Managers analysed data sufficiently and identified patient safety concerns, gaps in service provision and opportunities for service improvement.