This page is for anyone who has responsibility for prisoners' health and for commissioning or providing healthcare in prisons or young offenders institutes.

HIV and Hepatitis in UK prisons
A survey conducted by NAT and the Prison Reform Trust among prison healthcare managers across the UK in 2005 raised serious concerns about how HIV and Hepatitis C in UK prisons were being addressed.  A third of prisons surveyed had no HIV policy, one in five had no hepatitis C policy and well over half had no sexual health policy. The survey also found that many prisoners do not have appropriate access to condoms, disinfecting tablets, clean needles or healthcare information and so may not be able to protect themselves from HIV if injecting drugs or having unprotected sex whilst in prison. Read the report HIV and Hepatitis in UK Prisons: Addressing prisoners' healthcare needs.

Tackling Blood-Borne Viruses in Prisons
In response to the survey, we have produced Tackling Blood Borne Viruses in Prison - A framework for best practice in the UK, in consultation with a working group, which included experts in prison health, communicable diseases and genito-urinary medicine, as well as prison governors and representatives from key prisons associations.

This practical guide is a useful tool for those who have responsibilities for the health and well being of prisoners and prison staff in the UK and gives clear direction and examples of what needs to be done to improve the UK's response to blood-borne viruses in prisons, setting out best practice from the moment a prisoner enters the system until after their release.

An evaluation of the framework was completed in 2008, and the results show that improvements have been made in prisons as a result of our framework, but there is more to do.  We will be updating the framework to reflect findings from the evaluation.  Read the evaluation Tackling Blood Borne Viruses in Prisons - an evaluation.