HEALTHCARE staff at a young offenders institute are feeling “overstretched and stressed” because of their high workload, an inspection has found.

Prison inspectors described this as a “key concern” and said that reducing the increased demands on nursing time and resources should be treated as a priority at HMP Young Offenders Institute (YOI) Grampian.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) carried out a liaison visit to the facility in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, on November 4 and 5 last year.

The visits are carried out to provide assurance to ministers and the wider public that scrutiny of the treatment and conditions in which prisoners are held in has been continued during the pandemic.

Inspectors said that HMP YOI Grampian was performing strongly in its handling of Covid-19 risks and there was clear evidence of appropriate action being taken to minimise transmission risks.

However, they said that recruitment challenges and staff absences remain a concern for healthcare staff despite the ongoing commitment from the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership to seek solutions for staffing.

The report stated: “While there are wellbeing support structures in place, our discussions with staff revealed that some staff are very stressed due to the high workload and requirement to undertake additional duties due to the shortfall of staff.” Inspectors encouraged the partnership to implement the agreed proposal to recruit a pharmacy team to “free” up nursing staff time and improve the pharmacy service.

They said that there is an urgent need to address the nursing and pharmacy staffing concerns and secure a controlled drugs licence.

Mark Simpson, partnership manager for North Aberdeenshire, said: “We continue to explore every avenue and look at new and creative solutions to support the team already in place and attract more healthcare professionals to join them.”