More than one-third of prison governors believe the quality of social care in their prison is below average or poor, research by Community Care has revealed.
In a Prison Governors Association (PGA) survey, 40% of respondents said prisoners provided social care in their prison.
Half of prison governors said care was provided by prison staff who were not part of healthcare services, while just 4% said local authorities, which are not obliged to deliver social care in prisons, provided staff.
Although a quarter of the 96 respondents said care was good or excellent, the survey found a lack of specialist skills to deliver social care, with many prisons reliant on prisoners to provide it.
The findings come despite several reports over the past 10 years that have highlighted the poor state of social care in prisons (see timeline below) and a rising population of older inmates.
The number of sentenced over-50s in prison rose from 4,006 in 2000 to 7,452 last year.
"With a growing number of older people being put into prison and not being released we are going to have a crisis on our hands when it comes to the care of the elderly in prisons," said Stuart Ware, director of older prisoners' charity Restore.
Elizabeth Tysoe, head of health inspection at the prisons inspectorate, said she had encountered poor care on inspections, including equipment not being provided because of its cost or being taken away to save money. "It seems silly but it makes a real difference to people's lives," Tysoe said.
See our special report: social care behind bars - the challenge of delivering services in custodial settings.
Francesca Cooney, advice and information manager at the Prison Reform Trust, thought it unlikely that prisoners who provided care were receiving adequate training to do so.
Ware said the reliance on prisoners was the result of budget cuts. "Prisons don't have enough staff on the wings to cover those who are absent," he added.
However, the use of carer prisoners "may not be a bad thing", said Brian Swann, director of Recoop, an organisation that promotes the care and rehabilitation of older ex-offenders. "Prison is a community too and in any community you will always find good neighbours," he said.
PGA president Eoin McLennan-Murray said prisons had to make use of scarce resources and the inmates themselves had an important role to play in plugging the gap.
On the results as a whole, he said those working in a service were less likely to be satisfied with standards than other groups because they are always pushing to make things better. "I think that we are saying there is room for improvement," he added.
The Department of Health said it was developing a strategy for the management of older prisoners.
Read the whole article here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/08/04/117254/prisoners-provide-social-care-governors-admit.htm
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