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<p>Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond
promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and all prison staff must be aware
of their responsibilities for responding to a medical emergency (including resuscitation,
and ligature removal) and of the local procedures in place to support a streamlined
response.</p><p>Responses to medical emergencies in prisons are undertaken, and monitored,
locally by both prison and healthcare staff, and vary in the degree of seriousness
and the level of medical intervention that is required.</p><p>The time and type (‘Code
Blue’ / ‘Code Red’) of a medical emergency is recorded by prison service staff when
it is reported to them by telephone or via radio, and this will initiate a response
which will include on-site NHS-commissioned healthcare staff and/or first-aid trained
prison staff. Staff will assess what intervention is needed and determine whether
hospital treatment is required.</p><p>Prison staff will arrange for an ambulance to
attend, if needed, and escort it to the nearest, safest point of access to the patient.
Arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded locally. All such instances,
including response times, are discussed between prison and healthcare staff. Depending
on the seriousness of the emergency, this will be either as part of a full debrief
or, on the following day, as part of the regular daily reflection on the previous
day’s occurrences.</p><p>While arrival and departure times of ambulances are recorded
by prisons, the responsibility for their response times lies with the NHS, and, therefore,
any questions related to this element of emergency responses should be directed to
the Department for Health and Social Care.</p>
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