Concerns raised over care at jail

A PRISON watchdog has said a sex offender who died of lung cancer was given substandard care in a North East prison.

HMP Frankland inmate David Kendall was diagnosed with the disease after prison staff noticed him “bumping into walls.”

A new report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has criticised the quality of care the 55-year-old received in his final months.

The report said: “The care Mr Kendall received at HMP Frankland after his cancer diagnosis was not wholly of the required standard.

“It was, in parts, not equivalent to that which he could have expected in the community.”

Kendall, who had been serving an indeterminate sentence since 2008 for sexual offences and had been transferred to HMP Frankland in 2012, was sent to hospital in August 2019 after a prison nurse spotted him “walking unsteadily and bumping into walls.”

He was discharged the following day. Blood tests, X-rays and GP appointments followed until cancer was suspected that October.

He was diagnosed in November following a biopsy and ultrasound.

By March, staff ruled “it was no longer safe” for Kendall to remain on the wing, while by the middle of the month he was “unable to communicate verbally.”

The report went on: “On June 19, Mr Kendall had started to have difficulty swallowing medication, had lost weight and was spending more time in bed.

“By July, he was “struggling to eat, was getting weaker and was struggling with personal care” before an end-of-life care plan was put in place on July 22.”

In the early hours of July 24 Kendall died and a post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as lung cancer.

Ombudsman Lisa Burrell has now made a string of recommendations to the prison’s healthcare provider Spectrum.

These are making sure patients receive discharge letters, that training is in place for monitoring staff, that appointments and referrals are more timely, that mental health assessments are included in assessments and that video consultations are used to allow inmates to easily attend consultations with external staff.

A spokesperson for Spectrum said: “Spectrum is working closely with HMPPS, NHSE and all partners to ensure all recommendations in the report are fully and proactively engaged with.”