Guidance

Management of tuberculosis in secure settings in England

Guidance for custodial and healthcare teams in secure settings, NHS tuberculosis (TB) services and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) health protection teams.

Applies to England

Documents

Appendix 5: Reception screening

Appendix 7: Notification routes

Appendix 9: Useful TB contacts

Details

This guidance is intended to support the collaborative approach to prevention, diagnosis and management of tuberculosis (TB) in secure settings.

It is targeted at:

  • healthcare and non-healthcare teams in secure settings
  • local TB services
  • NHS commissioners
  • health protection teams (HPTs)
  • TB control boards

The guidance outlines how to detect and manage cases, notify necessary stakeholders of TB cases and manage outbreaks, including preventing new cases in residents and staff.

The settings in England covered are:

  • prisons and young offender institutions (YOIs) with residents aged 18 and above
  • approved premises (APs)
  • immigration removal centres (IRCs) and residential short-term holding facilities (maximum stay for 7 days) and residential holding rooms (maximum stay for 96 hours)

Updates to this page

Published 1 May 2013
Last updated 9 October 2025 show all updates
  1. Replaces both 'Management of TB in prisons for prison healthcare teams' (published in 2013) and 'Guidance for health protection teams (HPTs) on responding to TB incidents and outbreaks in prisons and other places of detention' (published in 2014) and combines them into one single guidance for all audiences in secure settings.

  2. Rebranded page to UKHSA. No change to content.

  3. First published.

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