The organisation that provides healthcare at a Suffolk prison has been told to take urgent action to improve following a damning report from the health regulator.

The Care Quality Commission has issued two enforcement actions against East Coast Community Healthcare and told the trust to take action in four other areas following an inspection of HMP Blundeston, near Lowestoft.

The regulator has issued warning notices and has urged the trust to submit an action plan for improvement by July 19 so that the 500 inmates at the category C prison get access to better healthcare.

Officials from East Coast Community Healthcare said they took over services at HMP Blundeston in October 2011 and said they did not act quick enough to address problems at the prison. However, its managing director said a number of improvements had been put into place since the CQC inspection on April 22 and 23.

Inspectors issued a warning notice after they found the NHS trust had failed in the management of medicines after it was discovered that some dressings within emergency treatment bags were two years out of date and medicines were being stored in the wrong temperatures.

The CQC said that the trust had also failed in assessing and monitoring the quality of services after improvements identified to improve mental health services for inmates in 2011 had not been acted upon.

The health regulator added that improvements also needed to be made in relation to the care and welfare of people who use the health trust's services, that staffing levels needed to be raised, and workers needed more support.

A survey of prisoners at Blundeston also revealed that 45pc rated the overall quality of healthcare as bad or very bad and the CQC said the standard of care was not of the standard usually found in prisons or in GP practices.

Tracy Cannell, the managing director of East Coast Community Healthcare, said a 'robust' action plan had been put in place to address the CQC's concerns and senior management changes have been made within the health trust.

She added that there had been recruitment issues and very challenging conditions with a 400pc increase in the number of prisoners requiring substance misuse support.

'We are disappointed and very sorry that some areas of care at HMP Blundeston are below the standards required. Our staff work are working extremely hard to support their patients in HMP Blundeston and we would like to thank them for their continued dedication and care.'

'As an organisation that puts quality first and foremost, we take the issues raised by the CQC extremely seriously. Since the inspection, we have made significant improvements required by the CQC particularly around the management of medicines and how we assess and monitor the quality of services.'