HMP Berwyn: Wales' biggest prison criticised for health, violence and education

Long waits for medical care and problems with self-harm, violence and education have been criticised at Wales' biggest prison.

A report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said although HMP Berwyn was well-run, a lack of staff was having a big impact.

The prison service said it is recruiting more staff and self-harm and violence rates had fallen.

The health board said it had made improvements to staffing and access.

The Wrexham prison was holding 1,865 men at the time of the inspection.

It opened in February 2017 and is the largest public sector prison in England and Wales.

The report said "most weaknesses or failings we found were linked to this lack of experienced staff".

The report added that: "Recruitment of clinical staff was difficult and there was a dependence on using temporary staff.

Other ongoing concerns from the prison inspector included high rates of violence and self-harm and the lack of education and learning opportunities.

A Prison Service spokesperson said, "violence and self-harm at HMP Berwyn are down" and they are "confident more rehabilitation work will be carried out by the prison now that restrictions put in place to keep staff and prisoners safe during the pandemic have been lifted".

The report was critical of how prisoners spend their days: "The regime was improving, but too many prisoners spent too long locked up in their cells, not enough were engaged in meaningful activity and the prison was still not using all the education and workplaces it had available."

Another priority was mental health, where the report stated: "Several patients had been taken off antipsychotic and other psychiatric medicines which had led to a deterioration in their condition. This created potential difficulties when psychiatric treatment had to be reconstituted."

Later in the report, inspectors noted that although "systems had now been introduced to mitigate this, but we were concerned that accountability for specialist prescribing had become unclear".

In terms of general healthcare inspectors found that "only 13% of prisoners said it was easy to see a doctor and we found waits for routine medical appointments of more than six weeks which was too long. This was exacerbated by insufficient prison escorts".

"Several appointments would be missed and inmates also faced "lengthy waits for other clinics such as optician, podiatry and audiology."

Health care is delivered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, with GP services sub-contracted to Gables Offender Health Ltd.

The report said due to the "strong" leadership the prison was "competently run".

"Outcomes were either reasonable or improving and with the capable leadership we observed, there is every reason for confidence about the prison's immediate future," it concluded.

In response to the criticisms on healthcare, Gareth Evans, Acting Executive Director of Therapies and Health Science at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board accepted "there have been delays in men at HMP Berwyn accessing primary care appointments", due to staffing pressures and Covid-19.

He added: "A number of measures have been implemented to improve access to services including waiting list initiatives and increased recruitment.

"Access to services continues to be monitored and an action plan is in place to ensure that the recommendations identified in the report are achieved in line with timescales."