To ask Her Majesty's Government what facilities are in place to diagnose tuberculosis in prisoners in England. [HL1928]

A prisoner with possible TB will usually be seen first by the prison primary care team who will then refer to the local NHS TB network for confirmation of the diagnosis.

The Department of Health is currently funding a programme to install digital X-ray equipment in eight major prisons in England specifically for the purpose of screening prisoners for tuberculosis. This programme is expected to be complete before the end of 2009.