Talks scheduled as prison officers issue medicine ban

The Corrections Department is to have mediation talks with prison officers threatening to stop giving medication to inmates over fears the practice could prove fatal.

The department wants the staff to administer prescribed drugs when nurses are not at prisons.

But prison officers say they will refuse to do the task from Friday because overworked and undertrained staff could kill an inmate by giving incorrect medicine.

A Corrections Department spokeswoman said officials were "unable" to comment on the issue ahead of mediation talks this week.

Public Prisons Service general manager Phil McCarthy said the policy for administering medicines to inmates had been developed in consultation with Medsafe.

"Officers are not prescribing medicines - rather, they are administering them under tight controls that ensure the integrity of the process," the spokeswoman quoted Mr McCarthy as saying. Talks with the prison officers' union, the Corrections Association, would address staff concerns.

Association president Beven Hanlon said prison officers were employed to give custodial services, not to provide health care.

The policy began last year after cuts in nursing rosters.

- NZPA