Prison Medical Service

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 June 2019

Thursday, 13 June 2019

Ceisteanna (116)

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

116. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the ratio of medical staff, that is, the number of general practitioners and nurses per prisoner per prison in May 2019; the provision of psychologists, psychiatrists and addiction counsellors per prisoner per prison in May 2019; the number of prisoners on waiting lists per prison to access all such services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24791/19]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that it currently directly employs four permanent prison doctors. The Prison Service also delivers general practitioner sessions through the services of locum doctors who are engaged by way of an existing contract agreement. A panel of 30 qualified general practitioners are available to the Irish Prison Service. This equates to approximately 12 whole-time equivalent locum doctors delivering general practitioner sessions across the prison estate. The Prison Service also employ 127.5 whole-time equivalent permanent prison nurses.

I am informed that the Irish Prison Service continues to explore and develop all possible avenues to ensure the recruitment of permanent prison doctors, and procure the services of qualified general practitioners to maintain its delivery of effective general practitioner services. Moreover, the Irish Prison Service has confirmed that it has recently successfully undertaken a recruitment campaign for prison nurses which is expected to realise the employment of a full complement of 143 prison nurses.

The following table sets out the average number of prisoners in each prison and the numbers of nurses assigned to each prison.

Prison	Average Number of Prisoners in Custody 2018*	Nurses (WTE)
Arbour Hill	135	5
Castlerea	300	10
Cloverhill	402	14.5
Cork Prison	288	10
Dochas Centre	132	7
Limerick	247 (33 female, 214 male)	11
Loughan House	110	2
Midlands	823	20
Mountjoy	679	21.5
Portlaoise	227	8
Shelton Abbey	97	2
Wheatfield Place of Detention	452	16.5

*Provisional pending publication of Annual Report

I am further advised by the Irish Prison Service that in-reach mental health services are made available to persons in the custody of the Irish Prison Service through its collaboration with the Health Service Executive, and the National Forensic Mental Health Service. The Irish Prison Service has confirmed that the figures available for the week ending 20 May 2019, indicate that an aggregate of 27 persons in custody were awaiting a transfer to the Central Mental Hospital.

There are 19.8 whole time equivalent Addiction Counsellors posts filled across the prison estate, as shown in the following table. The Irish Prison Service have advised that 2,750 prisoners benefited from addiction counselling services in 2018. Figures at end April 2019 indicate that there are 314 prisoners who have been referred to the addiction counselling service who are awaiting treatment.

Prison	Counsellor Posts (WTE)	Ratio – Counsellor: No. of Prisoners
Mountjoy	4.2	1: 236
Dochas	1.2	1: 88
Loughan House	1	1: 140
Shelton Abbey	0.8	1: 144
Wheatfield	3.2	1: 172
Cloverhill	1	1: 431
Castlerea	2	1: 170
Portlaoise	0.5	1: 582
Midlands	2	1: 423
Limerick	1.9	1: 125
Cork	2	1: 148

The current waiting list for the Irish Prison Service Psychology Service per prison is set out in the following table. In addition, all prisoners serving sentences for sex offences are screened for potential engagement in the Building Better Lives sex offender programme by the Prison Service Psychology Service and Probation Service.

The Irish Prison Service also employs 10 Assistant Psychologists across the prison estate on one year contracts, who are not included in the ratio of Prison Service Psychologists to prisoners. In the Irish Prison Service, Assistant Psychologists work predominantly in the area of primary care mental health and with young prisoners. They are heavily supervised by qualified Psychologists.

Prison	Waiting List - awaiting triage or intervention
Arbour Hill	36
Castlerea	41
Cloverhill Remand	22
Cork	27
Limerick	27
Midlands	185
Mountjoy (Female) Dochas	5
Mountjoy (Male)	138
Portlaoise	69
Wheatfield	64
Total	614

The ratio of Psychologists to prisoner bed space in closed prisons* is set out as follows:

Prison	Bed space	Psychologist Ratio
Arbour Hill	138	1:115
Cloverhill	431	1:287
Wheatfield	550	1:166
Mountjoy	755	1:215
Dochas	105	0.5:105
Midlands	835 (exc NVRU)	1:384
Portlaoise	263	0.2:263
Limerick	238	0.8:238
Cork	296	1:227
Castlerea	340	0.5:340
NVRU	10	0.3:10

* The IPS Psychology Service provides a consultancy service to Loughan House one day per month and a Psychology "Drop-In" clinic to Shelton Abbey one day per month.