Evaluation of Healthcare Services Provided to Women at HMP Peterborough 2021

HMP Peterborough is a local category B prison, housing both men and women who are held in two separate parts of the prison. The female part of the prison has the capacity for 360 female residents. There is a 12 place Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) and when last inspected in September 2017, the MBU was noted as offering a good quality of care.

In 2019 NHS England commissioned the Institute for Public Safety, Crime & Justice (IPSCJ) at the University of Northampton to review the effectiveness of healthcare services provided to women who have recently given birth or who are pregnant at HMP Peterborough. The review assessed HMP Peterborough’s compliance with three of the ten elements of the Birth Companions Birth Charter . Birth Companions are a Charity that run services in women’s prisons across England and campaign to improve the care of women and babies who experience multiple disadvantage.

The findings of the 2019 review identified positive aspects of level of care provided and opportunities for improvement. The findings were summarised into four main areas:

 Access to the same standard of ante natal care as women in the community
 Encouragement and support in their chosen method of infant feeding
 Access to counselling
 Wider care needs of women on the perinatal pathway

The report highlighted that there were issues of compliance with the three aspects of the Birth Charter and, therefore, provided 15 recommendations for the consideration of NHS England and HMP Peterborough. NHS England now intends to review progress since this report, to continue to progress understanding of the effectiveness of healthcare services provided to women who have given birth in the last 24 months or who are pregnant at HMP Peterborough. This will improve commissioners’ understanding of which services need further development and will inform future commissioning.