Prison doctor wait times shorter than in community, Corrections data shows

A new report from Corrections suggest at the very least, half of prisoners in July could see a medical officer within a week. Photo / NZME

New figures from the Department of Corrections suggest it could be quicker to see a doctor in prison than in some parts of New Zealand.

However, there are still concerns that because of the high and complex needs in jail, wait times behind the wire need to improve.

Newstalk ZB has obtained the first two monthly reports on medical wait lists in Corrections facilities through the Official Information Act.

The department took the step to begin centralising its waitlist data because historic waitlist information “is not reliable in its current form”.

They showed in July, prisons facilitated most face-to-face meetings between an inmate and medical officer in a week or less.

Rimutaka Prison and Northland Region Corrections Facility had the longest waits that month – with a median wait of seven days.

This largely remained the same in August except for Rimutaka, where the wait time doubled.

In most cases prisoners could see a nurse on the same day or within two days.

Department of Corrections data shows half of patients at Rimutaka Prison in August were waiting two weeks for a medical officer appointment. Graphic / Department of Corrections

Results from an RNZ-Reid Research poll published in April showed a third of New Zealanders were waiting more than two weeks for a GP appointment.

General Practice NZ chair Bryan Betty said there’s no national data on wait times to see a GP, adding it would vary depending on things like doctor availability.

“We have anecdotal evidence of up to two to three weeks. We know in the Wellington region the average is about four to six days.”

But the Corrections reports suggest at the very least, half of prisoners in July could see a medical officer within a week.

The data provided did not include the number of appointments each month.

Corrections said the wait times are driven by increasingly complex needs, the triage process and staffing pressure – which it noted was not unique to the prison system.

It said any inmate requiring urgent medical attention would be provided with it immediately.

Corrections said the wait times are driven by increasingly complex needs. Photo / Greg Bowker

Deputy chief executive Juanita Ryan said urgent needs used up a significant amount of its resources and was becoming increasingly the case.

“For example, it is common for a remand prisoner to enter prison from the community under the influence of drugs and then experience withdrawal symptoms, and during this time they require a high level of immediate medical attention,” she said.

A Corrections nurse, who did not want to be named, said they sometimes come to work to 45 appointment requests and must decide who needs care the most.

But they said the process and wait times were no longer than those in the community.

They did, however, note the environment was different.

“Violence and aggression from prisoners is more of a concern for nurses. We see abuse everyday.”

Corrections association president Floyd du Plessis said prison staff weren’t working with the most tolerant people at the best of times.

“When you’ve got a prisoner with an ache of some sort or a pain or feeling unwell, they’re not tolerant at the idea of waiting,” he said. “It definitely does cause quite a bit of tension within the prisons.”

He said nurses typically saw patients on the same day while a doctors clinic would most often visit the facility on one or two set days of the week.

Du Plessis explained medical appointments were a very staff-intensive process because prison guards needed to escort the inmate to see the nurse or doctor – possibly taking them out of the unit for hours.

It was a fairly straightforward problem with a similarly straightforward solution, he said.

“For most sites we need a lot more nurses, more doctors clinics and the staff to help supervise it,” he said. “At the end of the day the only solution for this is more people on the floor to manage it.”

Corrections said it’d done just that and employed 40 nurses nationwide in 12 months and increased the number of several roles like clinical team leaders.

But Du Plessis said that was surprising.

“On the floor we’re not seeing a massive improvement in that. There are regular occasions where the medical teams on sites are running short and unable to facilitate all their clinics.”

The Corrections Association says medical appointments behind bars are a very staff-intensive process. Photo / Anthony Phelps

A prisoner advocate points to facilities like Rimutaka Prison where it was taking two weeks to see a medical officer.

JustSpeak executive director Lisa Silipa said healthcare was a basic human right and there is meant to be a similar level of care inside prison as outside of it.

“The fact that our health system outside of prison is also under-resourced doesn’t negate the fact that people inside prison also have the right to receive healthcare in a really timely way.”

Silipa noted the Coroner’s recent finding which concluded a Rimutaka Prison inmate who killed himself in 2020 had been waiting four months for mental health services.

She said it showed the consequences of not addressing the severe mental health needs of inmates.

“He had a history of childhood trauma which is like so many people in our prisons,” she said.

“I think it’s just particularly unjust and it’s really tragic when we just see the wait times for people, and not being able to access the care that they need in a really timely way.”

Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell said the wait times were in line with his expectations.

“As with patients outside of a prison context, prisoners who need medical attention are triaged, with urgent patients seen quickly.

“Corrections do a good job managing this process.”

Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says medical wait times in prison are similar to those in the community. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It took much longer for prisoners to see dentists or allied health professionals – such as physiotherapists.

Some facilities, like Waikeria Prison, Hawke’s Bay Prison, Christchurch Prison and Auckland South Corrections Facility were able to help most prisoners see a dentist within a week.

Five prisons had median dentist wait times of 22 days or more, with Otago Corrections Facility reaching 42 days.

In August this increased to five prisons, with Otago’s reaching 52 days.

The median wait time for an allied health consultation was seven days or more at seven prisons, with the worst, Tongariro Prison, taking twice as long.

In August the worst turned out to be Whanganui Prison – at 20 days.

Jordan Dunn is a multimedia reporter based in Auckland with a focus on crime, social issues, policing and local issues. He joined Newstalk ZB in 2024 from Radio New Zealand, where he started as an intern out of the New Zealand Broadcasting School.