The Care Quality Commission
  • Mental Health
  • NHS mental health service

HMP Manchester

Southall Street, Manchester, Lancashire, M60 9AH (0161) 773 9121

Provided and run by:
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

HMP Manchester is a men’s prison located in Manchester and operated by HM Prison and Probation Service. It can hold up to 744 sentenced prisoners.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) is commissioned by NHS England to provide primary healthcare, mental health, substance misuse services and social care at the prison. GMMH is registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures, and treatment of disease, disorder, or injury.

We carried out an announced focused inspection of healthcare services provided by GMMH at HMP Manchester to follow up the regulatory breaches found during our joint inspection with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) in October 2024 (https://cloud-platform-e218f50a4812967ba1215eaecede923f.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/19/2025/01/Manchester-web-2024.pdf).

At this inspection, we looked at 8 quality statements. We found the provider had made sufficient progress to address the regulatory breaches and was no longer in breach.

Staff had introduced a range of new processes to support the delivery of safe care and treatment for patients; particularly in relation to long term health conditions. Managers analysed data sufficiently to identify and understand patient safety concerns, gaps in service provision and opportunities for service development. Patients had access to a confidential complaints process and staff responded professionally within the agreed response times. Patient engagement had commenced. Governance arrangements had been strengthened, systems and processes had improved and were effective.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

10 August 2022 - 11 August 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced focused inspection of healthcare services provided by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) at HMP Manchester to follow up on the requirement notices issued after our last inspection in September 2021. At the last inspection, we found the quality of healthcare provided by GMMH at this location required improvement. We issued requirement notices in relation to Regulation 17, Good governance and Regulation 18, Staffing.

The purpose of this focused inspection was to determine if the healthcare services provided by GMMH were meeting the legal requirements of the requirement notices; determine if the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and that patients were receiving safe care and treatment.

At this inspection we found the required improvements had been made and the provider was meeting the regulations.

We do not currently rate services provided in prisons. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

At this inspection we found:

  • New systems and processes had been implemented to strengthen governance of the service and these operated effectively to ensure performance and risk were managed.
  • Staff received basic training to keep people safe from avoidable harm.

1 May to 20 May 2019

During an inspection looking at part of the service

This report focusses only on concerns mentioned in the Requirement Notice we issued in November 2018, following a joint inspection with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). At the time we found that:

  • The provider did not operate an effective and accessible system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling and responding to complaints.

On undertaking a desk based focused review of the complaints process in May 2019, we found that the provider had addressed all the issues of concern we had identified in the Requirement Notice, and was now compliant with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in relation to the responsive key question.

When we inspected HMP Manchester in July 2018, we found that the provider did not operate an effective and accessible system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling and responding to complaints.

  • The complaints system was not effectively promoted in healthcare or on the prison wings, and some patients spoken to did not know, or were uncertain how to make a complaint. As a result, the provider could not be confident that all patients who wished to submit a complaint to healthcare were doing so.
  • The complaints system was not confidential. Patients had to request forms from healthcare staff, and return them unsealed, and responses were also unsealed.

We therefore found that the complaints system was not effective in ensuring that patients were able or willing to submit complaints, or that their information was kept confidential.

During the desk based focused review in May 2019, we found that the provider had made improvements to the complaints process and its promotion, and that complaints submitted were dealt with confidentially.

  • Healthcare complaint forms, confidential envelopes, leaflets and posters were available and displayed in locations around the prison, and accessible to patients.
  • Patients could also submit confidential healthcare complaints via the electronic kiosk system on the wings, or by telephone or in writing to the trust’s external customer care team.
  • Responses to complaints were being returned to patients in sealed envelopes marked “Medical in Confidence”. Copies were being archived in a dedicated folder in healthcare, and no longer scanned onto clinical records.
  • A three-month audit indicated that since the start of 2019, all the methods of complaint submission had been used, with an average of 32 complaints a month submitted. This compared to a total four complaints which had been submitted incorrectly via the generic prison complaint system. These had been dealt with confidentially on receipt by healthcare.