24-hour clinical care needed at HMP The Verne, says prison watchdog

In its 2024-25 annual report published on 24 March 2026, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for HMP The Verne has called for a nurse or paramedic to be on duty from 7pm to 7am to offer clinical care to the ageing population held there. In addition, the IMB points to the impact the loss of prison staff from overseas will have when the exemption from the revised visa regulations runs out at the end of 2026.

The Board notes that:

• Around 33% of The Verne’s population is over the age of 60, which means that many of the men have complex health needs often requiring constant oversight by clinical staff.
• The presence of clinical staff overnight could reduce the number of calls to the ambulance service. Many calls are made during the night, sometimes resulting in hospital admission which requires a two-officer escort and leaves the prison short-staffed.
• Prison officers spent over 20,000 hours on bed watch duties in the last fourteen months. These external duties are at the expense of other essential activities such as key work. The Board believes that 24-hour clinical care on site could reduce this burden.
• There were repeated failures of the clothes dryers in Dorset wing, causing considerable nuisance to the elderly population housed there.

However, despite these various challenges, the Board is of the view that The Verne continues to offer a safe environment for those detained there. The Board is particularly impressed by the work of the social care unit, which serves the needs of the more frail and elderly prisoners.

The Verne IMB Co-Chairs said:

“Given the proportion of The Verne’s population over the age of 60, an increasing number have complex healthcare needs. We recognise that Oxleas (the prison’s healthcare provider) supplies excellent healthcare on weekdays, but when a problem occurs at night or over the weekend this must be addressed, in the first instance, by prison officers with no clinical training. Staff are often obliged to call out paramedics from the ambulance service, even though many of these call-outs do not result in admission to hospital. 24-hour clinical care would act as a complement to the social care suite in Dorset wing which, the Board is happy to report, has offered excellent care, especially to prisoners with dementia and terminal illness.”