Isle of Man Prison healthcare manager, Anya Evans, explains how a donation from the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust is making a huge difference in delivering healthcare for prisoners in Jurby.

A very experienced nurse, Anya has extensive experience working within healthcare at prisons both in the UK and on the Isle of Man.

Based at Jurby, she and her team look after approximately 100 prisoners, the majority of whom are male.

Previously she worked at HMP Winchester, HMP Styal and HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, which has a population of around 1,250.

Anya had planned to become an Emergency Department nurse consultant but when she relocated to Merseyside there weren’t any vacancies so she went to work as a police custody nurse instead and ended up running the police custody healthcare for Merseyside.

She was then asked to go to Altcourse to work. A move to the island in March 2021 saw Anya starting work for Manx Care, based at the Isle of Man Prison. Anya explained: ’I’m absolutely passionate about equity of care. I don’t judge - my job is to deliver the same healthcare that I would give my mum.’

Prison healthcare is very much reliant on the hospitals and community services. ’We can’t do everything for them here so we do have to refer on. Early assessment at the prison is key: for example if a prisoner has chest pain - is it heart related or is it anxiety?’

Sending someone to the emergency department requires two prison officers to accompany them so that means two less in the prison which has a knock on effect. ’I try not to send people out to hospital if I can help it but of course there isn’t a choice sometimes.’

In order to cut down the number of hospital visits, Anya applied to the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust for a grant to purchase an ECG machine and a bladder scanner.

The Trust agreed and, several months ago, Anya took delivery of the machines. She has now had a chance to assess the difference the machines can make to the care she can give to her patients within the prison.

She says: ’The beauty of having this diagnostic equipment here is that we don’t have to send so many people out to hospital.

’I recently dealt with a young lad with a rapid heartbeat but the ECG trace was normal, there was nothing wrong. He didn’t need to go to hospital: we had a chat about anxiety instead.’

Even when someone does need to go to hospital with a suspected cardiac event Anya can save time when they are there.

She says: ’I can send them with an ECG tracing done and bloods already taken, rather than having prison officers waiting around at the hospital for them.’

Anya goes on: ’It’s the same with the bladder scanner: again, it’s super useful, it can rule out symptoms that might indicate a urinary tract infection or kidney issues.

’Even if we do have to send them to hospital there is a very good reason.’