Every year on 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, nurses around the world are recognised for doing extraordinary work to save and improve the lives of individuals and entire communities. This year’s theme Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives reinforces the impact nurses have when they are supported and enabled to deliver high‑quality care.
Around 470 nurses are employed by Corrections and deliver primary healthcare to people in prison. Each month, they deliver approximately 23,800 face‑to‑face nurse consultations in prison health centres across the country and complete a further 3,400 health assessments in receiving offices when people first arrive in prison.
Every New Zealand prison has a health centre, and primary healthcare services are delivered by our Health Services team. This includes general practitioner services, nursing, physiotherapy, basic dentistry and mental health services.
Providing healthcare in prisons is complex, yet our nurses consistently deliver care to a high standard. All prison health centres have achieved Foundation Standards Certification; the same certification held by general practices across the country. This demonstrates that the health services delivered in our prisons are of a safe, quality standard.
People entering prison often present particular healthcare challenges. Many new arrivals have not seen a health professional in years and present with more complex physical health conditions, alongside increasing mental health needs.
For these reasons, and many more, our nurses are true heroes. On International Nurses Day we recognise their commitment to providing the best possible healthcare to people in prison.