New analysis shows many prisoners are not receiving the health care they need with 2,670 prisoners leaving A&E without being seen in 2023/24.

Miranda Davies, senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust and lead author of the analysis, said: ‘Prisoners' health care needs are not being managed properly, and A&E services are left to pick up the pieces from that failure.'

Data from 117 prisons and young offender institutions in England revealed that people in prison attended A&E over 27,000 times in 2023/24 (16,384 prisoners attended, some more than once). Attendances were lower than expected relative to the wider population, suggesting that prisoners face barriers to accessing hospital care despite some health care needs being dealt with in-house.

The report highlighted how failings in preventative prison-based health care, including poor identification and management of long-term health conditions, are exacerbating avoidable A&E attendances, storing up problems for an NHS under severe strain.

Further key findings from the report included: paracetamol overdose rates over six times higher for people in prison than the general population; the rate of A&E attendances associated with seizures for prisoners three times higher than that seen in the general population; 30% (4,963 people) attended more than once and 4% (719 people) attended A&E five times or more; and A&E attendance while in prison was associated with high use of A&E services outside of prison.

The authors recommended physical health checks for older prisoners – which should be carried out as standard – need to be prioritised and acted upon.

They also called for more effective preventative health screening on entry to prison, to identify and manage issues such as high blood pressure before they become an emergency.