hash tag
Books, not bombs
Companies running 'inadequate' UK care homes make £113m profit
Meadbank is 5 minutes from me. Still, thats private health care for you
Meadbank is 5 minutes from me. Still, thats private health care for you
care in the uk - a disgrace
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Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
“The bill could result in people being forced to live in care homes when it is not in their best interests nor what they want, simply because it is cheaper and easier for local authorities.”
Law Change Threatens Rights of 300,000 People with Learning Disabilities
Law Change Threatens Rights of 300,000 People with Learning Disabilities
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Lovely caring care staff lovingly beat the shit out of a mental health patient under their ‘care’ (ie locked up there under the mental health act).
Hospital patient 'was left with trainer imprints on his body after severe beating', court hears
Hospital patient 'was left with trainer imprints on his body after severe beating', court hears
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
hash tag
Books, not bombs
it was not as grim as I thought it was going to be or could have been. My experience of this is there are many more revolving doors and much more red tape.
The kitchen assessment was an eye opener (if that happens quite like that, which is not my experience) and the form filling by the client who could not speak her name
yet alone say kettle
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Andy was in the area of Camden and Islington Trust when he made an attempt on his life earlier this year. There were no beds. He was left for 30 hours in the A&E department at a local hospital.
“Initially I was sat on one of the stairs in the waiting area. And then they eventually said that I could go into this room which was like a prison cell.
I couldn't shower, I couldn't brush my teeth, I couldn't do anything. I felt completely alone - that feeling of loneliness was really strong and it made me think that I wish the suicide attempt had been successful.”
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2018-12-11/underfunded-understaffed-and-overflowing-with-patients-shocking-state-of-mental-health-services/
“Initially I was sat on one of the stairs in the waiting area. And then they eventually said that I could go into this room which was like a prison cell.
I couldn't shower, I couldn't brush my teeth, I couldn't do anything. I felt completely alone - that feeling of loneliness was really strong and it made me think that I wish the suicide attempt had been successful.”
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2018-12-11/underfunded-understaffed-and-overflowing-with-patients-shocking-state-of-mental-health-services/
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Down’s syndrome man in 24-hour care died after staff in Newham failed to treat gangrene
A man with learning disabilities suffered “six months of pain” and an “undignified” death after visiting care staff in Newham failed to get his gangrene treated in time, a damning report has found.
The 56-year-old died in Newham University Hospital after living for months with an infection in 24-hour supported residential care in the borough.
A safeguarding review into his death found that 27 health professionals knew about his infection but did not act appropriately — even when his home became overwhelmed with the smell.
He had no “family, assertive support worker or advocate who argued that things were not improving for him”, which the report said raises questions about failings in the wider safeguarding system in Newham.
The man, named only as “Paul”, had Down’s Syndrome and lived in one-bedroom flat where he was meant to be accompanied by a carer at all times. On at least one occasion a carer did not show up for a shift, the report found.
More than six months before his death, doctors discovered he had a “small blister” on his genitals, believed to have been caused by a “yeast infection, friction burns or pressure sores”.
Later visiting doctors found he had “recurrent skin infections and MRSA”, the report said, but no referrals were made to a learning disability team.
When his infection became so bad he was bedridden, an ambulance was finally called. “Paramedics noticed a strong smell in Paul’s flat, consistent with necrosis [or] dying body tissue”, the report stated.
“It would be an expectation that care staff and managers at the care home would recognise and act upon such a smell. This did not happen.”
Paul spent almost two months in intensive care before he died.
He had a plastic tube inserted down his throat four times, which destroyed his ability to swallow solid food, and underwent at least two operations to remove gangrene.
“Paul suffered great discomfort and quite often pain for more than six months. He experienced indignity and discomfort in hospital despite efforts by many professionals who recognised this and tried to work together to address it,” the report stated.
It added: “He never recovered from the medical problems arising from the gangrene that he developed at home, in the community. This was the reason for his hospital admission, and, in the independent reviewer’s opinion, could have been prevented if there had been more effective earlier collaboration between professionals.”
Paul died on May 30, 2015 from respiratory failure and sepsis.
A man with learning disabilities suffered “six months of pain” and an “undignified” death after visiting care staff in Newham failed to get his gangrene treated in time, a damning report has found.
The 56-year-old died in Newham University Hospital after living for months with an infection in 24-hour supported residential care in the borough.
A safeguarding review into his death found that 27 health professionals knew about his infection but did not act appropriately — even when his home became overwhelmed with the smell.
He had no “family, assertive support worker or advocate who argued that things were not improving for him”, which the report said raises questions about failings in the wider safeguarding system in Newham.
The man, named only as “Paul”, had Down’s Syndrome and lived in one-bedroom flat where he was meant to be accompanied by a carer at all times. On at least one occasion a carer did not show up for a shift, the report found.
More than six months before his death, doctors discovered he had a “small blister” on his genitals, believed to have been caused by a “yeast infection, friction burns or pressure sores”.
Later visiting doctors found he had “recurrent skin infections and MRSA”, the report said, but no referrals were made to a learning disability team.
When his infection became so bad he was bedridden, an ambulance was finally called. “Paramedics noticed a strong smell in Paul’s flat, consistent with necrosis [or] dying body tissue”, the report stated.
“It would be an expectation that care staff and managers at the care home would recognise and act upon such a smell. This did not happen.”
Paul spent almost two months in intensive care before he died.
He had a plastic tube inserted down his throat four times, which destroyed his ability to swallow solid food, and underwent at least two operations to remove gangrene.
“Paul suffered great discomfort and quite often pain for more than six months. He experienced indignity and discomfort in hospital despite efforts by many professionals who recognised this and tried to work together to address it,” the report stated.
It added: “He never recovered from the medical problems arising from the gangrene that he developed at home, in the community. This was the reason for his hospital admission, and, in the independent reviewer’s opinion, could have been prevented if there had been more effective earlier collaboration between professionals.”
Paul died on May 30, 2015 from respiratory failure and sepsis.
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Woman died after all teeth removed
A disabled woman died after having all her teeth removed by a dentist at an NHS trust criticised for its "drastic" full extractions from other vulnerable patients.
"Sadly, it is very common for there to be a lack of communication between healthcare professionals and people with a learning disability and their families," Sarah Coleman, Mencap's health policy officer, said.
A disabled woman died after having all her teeth removed by a dentist at an NHS trust criticised for its "drastic" full extractions from other vulnerable patients.
"Sadly, it is very common for there to be a lack of communication between healthcare professionals and people with a learning disability and their families," Sarah Coleman, Mencap's health policy officer, said.
I'm looking after a sick old relative and she has been in two private places with the NHS.
One was dire. The actual place was ok but there were way too few staff and they were just people on minimum wage not trained, a couple of them were not that good at English either.
The one she is in now is great though. Lovely staff and well looked after. They love her because most people are senile but she chats on with them.
It's pretty depressing thinking about the senuls people stuck in the bad ones with nobody looking out for them because they can't really do anything about it being so incapacitated
One was dire. The actual place was ok but there were way too few staff and they were just people on minimum wage not trained, a couple of them were not that good at English either.
The one she is in now is great though. Lovely staff and well looked after. They love her because most people are senile but she chats on with them.
It's pretty depressing thinking about the senuls people stuck in the bad ones with nobody looking out for them because they can't really do anything about it being so incapacitated
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
One thing I will say just from my experience is that it does seem very difficult to do. Even with the good ones, it's grim because you are going in to these places to die
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Scrooge is alive and well...please someone tell me this is not true British care company fines workers £50 for calling in sick
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
It is hard to imagine someone dying from gangrene in London, their flat stinking from rotting flesh. Yet this is precisely what happened to Paul, a 56-year-old man in Newham. Small blisters were found on his body and six painful months later he was dead.
Paul had Down’s syndrome and, like about 1,200 people with learning disabilities who die each year, his death was avoidable. Sadly, his fate reflects the attitudes of a society that seems oblivious to the suffering of its most disempowered citizens.
This man lived in 24-hour supposed care. Yet when he became bedridden and an ambulance was called, paramedics instantly noticed the stench of decaying body tissue. A safeguarding review found that an astonishing 27 health professionals knew of his infection but failed to act appropriately to save his life.
The terrible death of another person with learning disabilities emerged on the same day as Paul’s story. Rachel Johnston, who had brain damage from meningitis as a child, died after going for dental treatment and having all her teeth pulled out. The BBC reported two other families saying their sons had similar “full dental clearance” by the same health trust when expecting less drastic treatment. “We were very shocked,” said one man’s father. “He was very distressed. He was looking at us, like, ‘what have they done?’”
Two stories on one day offering a snapshot of life, and death, for people with learning disabilities and their families in a supposedly civilised nation. People like my own daughter. People like Harvey Price, mocked by a leading comedian and now on clothing sold online simply owing to the fame of his mother, Katie. And people like Connor Sparrowhawk, a teenager left to drown in a bath in a care unit because of NHS failures. His mother’s brave campaign to spare others such misery prompted a review that found poor care contributing to early deaths. We now know people with learning disabilities die at least two decades earlier than other citizens.
The health secretary did not even bother responding properly in parliament to this review. Meanwhile vast sums are blown locking up hundreds of people with autism and learning disabilities in secure psychiatric units that make their conditions worse, despite it being cheaper and far more effective to care for them in the community.
These are people who are shunted to the fringe of society, abused on the streets, ignored in discussions on diversity, swept aside in the social care debate, the butt of crass jokes, stripped of basic rights, dying from indifference and dehumanised. Yet no one seems to really care apart from their desperate families.
Life appears to be cheap if you have learning difficulties
Paul had Down’s syndrome and, like about 1,200 people with learning disabilities who die each year, his death was avoidable. Sadly, his fate reflects the attitudes of a society that seems oblivious to the suffering of its most disempowered citizens.
This man lived in 24-hour supposed care. Yet when he became bedridden and an ambulance was called, paramedics instantly noticed the stench of decaying body tissue. A safeguarding review found that an astonishing 27 health professionals knew of his infection but failed to act appropriately to save his life.
The terrible death of another person with learning disabilities emerged on the same day as Paul’s story. Rachel Johnston, who had brain damage from meningitis as a child, died after going for dental treatment and having all her teeth pulled out. The BBC reported two other families saying their sons had similar “full dental clearance” by the same health trust when expecting less drastic treatment. “We were very shocked,” said one man’s father. “He was very distressed. He was looking at us, like, ‘what have they done?’”
Two stories on one day offering a snapshot of life, and death, for people with learning disabilities and their families in a supposedly civilised nation. People like my own daughter. People like Harvey Price, mocked by a leading comedian and now on clothing sold online simply owing to the fame of his mother, Katie. And people like Connor Sparrowhawk, a teenager left to drown in a bath in a care unit because of NHS failures. His mother’s brave campaign to spare others such misery prompted a review that found poor care contributing to early deaths. We now know people with learning disabilities die at least two decades earlier than other citizens.
The health secretary did not even bother responding properly in parliament to this review. Meanwhile vast sums are blown locking up hundreds of people with autism and learning disabilities in secure psychiatric units that make their conditions worse, despite it being cheaper and far more effective to care for them in the community.
These are people who are shunted to the fringe of society, abused on the streets, ignored in discussions on diversity, swept aside in the social care debate, the butt of crass jokes, stripped of basic rights, dying from indifference and dehumanised. Yet no one seems to really care apart from their desperate families.
Life appears to be cheap if you have learning difficulties
mojo pixy
interesting times
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
What vote was this?
mojo pixy
interesting times
Votes for governments that make sure it happens. Not by me, not by you I assume, somehow it goes on anyway because there aren't the resources available to make sure it doesn't. Govt policy, made by govts we collectively somehow keep voting for. (Govts made up of members we elect, aiming at manifestos they publish and explicitly support, all done fairly publicly and put to popular votes on a regular basis)
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
oh gawd, you're back in full 'but what are the Left going to do about it?' territory.
Not helpful
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
agreed with all that, and I would add that the 2012 reorg Act made things much, much worse,in that they made it much, much harder for primary and secondary care to work seamlessly together. Often, they are practically working against each other
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Tbh I wish the left would fuck off from disability/MH activism.
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
And if they could kindly take their manoeuvring, posturing, red-brown shite with them that would be most helpful.
Honestly, watching ‘left-wing’ activists throw their weight around meetings, defend racists, big up shite like RT, collobarate with the fucking SWP rape cult, try to press gang disabled people into their electioneering.
Seriously wish they would properly fuck off.
Honestly, watching ‘left-wing’ activists throw their weight around meetings, defend racists, big up shite like RT, collobarate with the fucking SWP rape cult, try to press gang disabled people into their electioneering.
Seriously wish they would properly fuck off.
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
The achievements made by actual disabled/ill people (and/or their families) far outstrip anything ‘the left’ has done for us. Bullocks to them.
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
not all us 'left' are like those swappie pains in the arse, tbf
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
When you say ‘left’ - you mean people who would be described as left wing (of which I guess I’d be included), or ‘The Left’ (which treelover , for reasons I can’t fathom, seems desperate to want to put their dirty paws even more into our struggles)
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
The Mail on Sunday 6Jan 2019
JULIE NEWCOMBE CO-FOUNDER OF RIGHTFUL LIVES
My autistic son Jamie spent 19 months in five different hospitals being over-medicated, horribly restrained and held in seclusion. During one incident, his arm was broken but he was not taken to A&E for 24 hours.
It was a nightmare. Yet I was shocked when I discovered this was not an isolated case. I found other families going through exactly what we had been through – and even worse.
But despite Government promises, nothing seems to change. Innocent people are locked away for years without care or treatment. Many suffer human rights abuses. It is all paid for by the NHS out of taxpayers’ money. This is state-funded abuse.
When I founded Rightful Lives with two other parents to explore the rights of autistic people and people with learning disabilities, we were flooded with responses. There were stories of avoidable and early deaths, abuses in the care and health systems, and endless marginalisation of families.
Instead of the NHS wasting vast sums locking people up, the cash should shift to local authority budgets and be ringfenced so they can have homes and support in local communities, which is usually cheaper.
The role of the private sector, which now owns more than half the inpatient beds, needs to be examined because they are making huge profits out of misery.
The Health Secretary’s pathetic response to this newspaper’s campaign has been to order yet another review, which does not report until next year.
We have heard it all before. We know what needs doing – so why not do it now before more children die, more teenagers have limbs broken, and more families are torn apart?
PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News
JULIE NEWCOMBE CO-FOUNDER OF RIGHTFUL LIVES
My autistic son Jamie spent 19 months in five different hospitals being over-medicated, horribly restrained and held in seclusion. During one incident, his arm was broken but he was not taken to A&E for 24 hours.
It was a nightmare. Yet I was shocked when I discovered this was not an isolated case. I found other families going through exactly what we had been through – and even worse.
But despite Government promises, nothing seems to change. Innocent people are locked away for years without care or treatment. Many suffer human rights abuses. It is all paid for by the NHS out of taxpayers’ money. This is state-funded abuse.
When I founded Rightful Lives with two other parents to explore the rights of autistic people and people with learning disabilities, we were flooded with responses. There were stories of avoidable and early deaths, abuses in the care and health systems, and endless marginalisation of families.
Instead of the NHS wasting vast sums locking people up, the cash should shift to local authority budgets and be ringfenced so they can have homes and support in local communities, which is usually cheaper.
The role of the private sector, which now owns more than half the inpatient beds, needs to be examined because they are making huge profits out of misery.
The Health Secretary’s pathetic response to this newspaper’s campaign has been to order yet another review, which does not report until next year.
We have heard it all before. We know what needs doing – so why not do it now before more children die, more teenagers have limbs broken, and more families are torn apart?
PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Care homes could profit from locking up vulnerable patients under new law
Chris Smyth, Health Editor
January 22 2019, 12:01am, The Times
The government has said that the proposals will “reform a broken system”
...........................................................................
Vulnerable people will be detained for years and care home managers who could profit will be involved in the decisions, charities and campaigners warn.
Rushed government reforms designed to save money embed a “worrying conflict of interest” at the heart of rulings on depriving people with dementia, learning disabilities and mental illness of their liberty, it is feared.
In a letter to The Times, 13 charities and rights groups say that hundreds of thousands of people risk “exploitation and abuse” by changes tripling the time they can be detained without review.
Since a Supreme Court decision in 2014, anyone under continuous supervision who would not be allowed to walk out of the door of a hospital or care home must have such restrictions approved under what are known as Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, or Dols. However, approvals take more than four months on average and 48,000 people wait more than a year for a decision from two independent assessors, who are appointed by local councils.
Ministers estimate that clearing the backlog under existing law would cost £2 billion and have put forward a streamlined system in a Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, which is being considered by the House of Commons.
Charities including Mind, the National Autistic Society and the Alzheimer’s Society say that their concerns have been ignored. The bill would create “an entirely unfit new system of protection”, they warn in today’s letter.
“Alarmingly, the bill proposes to triple the time that people can be deprived of their liberty without review (from one to three years),” they say. “The bill also creates a worrying conflict of interest for care home managers, giving them a greater role in the assessment process.”
Care home managers would have more responsibility for arranging key assessments and deciding whether residents can access advocacy. Ministers say that local authorities would have the final say. Independent hospitals could approve Dols themselves.
About half of 227,000 Dols approved each year are for people with dementia. Jeremy Hughes, head of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Under the proposals people with dementia find themselves in a worrying situation, unable to comment [honestly] on the quality of the care they receive, because care home managers would be in charge of asking residents about their care. This . . . creates a potential conflict of interest.”
Sam Grant, of Liberty, said: “This bill is in essence a cost-cutting exercise, which removes vital safeguards necessary to ensure people, who for whatever reason might lack capacity to make decisions, are not abused, mistreated or ignored. The government must fix the bill, or put hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people at risk.”
Barbara Keeley, shadow minister for mental health, said: “This government is prepared to put the interests of private care providers making millions from detaining vulnerable people ahead of the human rights of those being detained.”
The Department for Health and Social Care said: “Our bill will reform a broken system and ensure vulnerable people can more quickly access legal protections. We have listened carefully to feedback from stakeholders and parliamentarians and made amendments, including excluding care home managers from granting authorisations or completing assessments. This will ensure all applications are independently scrutinised.”
Care homes could profit from locking up vulnerable patients under new law
Chris Smyth, Health Editor
January 22 2019, 12:01am, The Times
The government has said that the proposals will “reform a broken system”
...........................................................................
Vulnerable people will be detained for years and care home managers who could profit will be involved in the decisions, charities and campaigners warn.
Rushed government reforms designed to save money embed a “worrying conflict of interest” at the heart of rulings on depriving people with dementia, learning disabilities and mental illness of their liberty, it is feared.
In a letter to The Times, 13 charities and rights groups say that hundreds of thousands of people risk “exploitation and abuse” by changes tripling the time they can be detained without review.
Since a Supreme Court decision in 2014, anyone under continuous supervision who would not be allowed to walk out of the door of a hospital or care home must have such restrictions approved under what are known as Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, or Dols. However, approvals take more than four months on average and 48,000 people wait more than a year for a decision from two independent assessors, who are appointed by local councils.
Ministers estimate that clearing the backlog under existing law would cost £2 billion and have put forward a streamlined system in a Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, which is being considered by the House of Commons.
Charities including Mind, the National Autistic Society and the Alzheimer’s Society say that their concerns have been ignored. The bill would create “an entirely unfit new system of protection”, they warn in today’s letter.
“Alarmingly, the bill proposes to triple the time that people can be deprived of their liberty without review (from one to three years),” they say. “The bill also creates a worrying conflict of interest for care home managers, giving them a greater role in the assessment process.”
Care home managers would have more responsibility for arranging key assessments and deciding whether residents can access advocacy. Ministers say that local authorities would have the final say. Independent hospitals could approve Dols themselves.
About half of 227,000 Dols approved each year are for people with dementia. Jeremy Hughes, head of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Under the proposals people with dementia find themselves in a worrying situation, unable to comment [honestly] on the quality of the care they receive, because care home managers would be in charge of asking residents about their care. This . . . creates a potential conflict of interest.”
Sam Grant, of Liberty, said: “This bill is in essence a cost-cutting exercise, which removes vital safeguards necessary to ensure people, who for whatever reason might lack capacity to make decisions, are not abused, mistreated or ignored. The government must fix the bill, or put hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people at risk.”
Barbara Keeley, shadow minister for mental health, said: “This government is prepared to put the interests of private care providers making millions from detaining vulnerable people ahead of the human rights of those being detained.”
The Department for Health and Social Care said: “Our bill will reform a broken system and ensure vulnerable people can more quickly access legal protections. We have listened carefully to feedback from stakeholders and parliamentarians and made amendments, including excluding care home managers from granting authorisations or completing assessments. This will ensure all applications are independently scrutinised.”
Care homes could profit from locking up vulnerable patients under new law
Shechemite
Be the sun and all will see you
Vulnerable dementia patients could be locked up for three years without review under ‘rushed’ government reform
Bill ‘creates a worrying conflict of interest for care home managers, giving them a greater role in the assessment process’, charities warn
Alex Matthews-King Health
The Independent
People with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and dementia could be locked away for as long as three years without a review under “rushed” reforms put forward by the government.
Charities have expressed dismay at changes to deprivation of liberty safeguards, used to ensure people without capacity to consent to their care are not detained inappropriately.
They warn the measures would create “worrying conflicts of interest” by giving care home operators a greater role in the reviews and assessing whether their paying residents are receiving good care.
Organisations, including Mind, Liberty, Parkinson’s UK, and the National Autistic Society were among 13 to sign a letter to The Times, which said that the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill being considered by MPs would create “an entirely unfit new system of protection”.
It said: “Alarmingly, the bill proposes to triple the time that people can be deprived of their liberty without review (from one to three years) while not doing enough to guarantee that all patients have access to independent and impartial advocates.”
It added: “The result is a rushed, incomplete and unworkable bill that will replace one dysfunctional system with another.”
A 2014 Supreme Court ruling enshrined deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) in the Mental Capacity Act 2005, to ensure independent oversight of the powers in care homes and hospitals so they’re used in patients’ best interests.
Council-appointed independent assessors are responsible for reviewing DoLS decisions, however they take on average four months to complete – while 48,000 people have waited more than a year for a decision.
The government’s proposed changes are intended to streamline this process, however critics have said it is cost-cutting at the expense of vulnerable people.
Half of the 227,000 DoLS approved each year are for people with dementia, and Jeremy Hughes, head of the Alzheimer’s Society told The Times: “Under the proposals people with dementia find themselves in a worrying situation, unable to comment [honestly] on the quality of the care they receive, because care home managers would be in charge of asking residents about their care.
The Department for Health and Social Care said: “Our bill will reform a broken system and ensure vulnerable people can more quickly access legal protections. We have listened carefully to feedback from stakeholders and parliamentarians and made amendments, including excluding care home managers from granting authorisations or completing assessments. This will ensure all applications are independently scrutinised.”
Vulnerable patients could be locked up for three years without review under ‘rushed’ government reforms
Bill ‘creates a worrying conflict of interest for care home managers, giving them a greater role in the assessment process’, charities warn
Alex Matthews-King Health
The Independent
People with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and dementia could be locked away for as long as three years without a review under “rushed” reforms put forward by the government.
Charities have expressed dismay at changes to deprivation of liberty safeguards, used to ensure people without capacity to consent to their care are not detained inappropriately.
They warn the measures would create “worrying conflicts of interest” by giving care home operators a greater role in the reviews and assessing whether their paying residents are receiving good care.
Organisations, including Mind, Liberty, Parkinson’s UK, and the National Autistic Society were among 13 to sign a letter to The Times, which said that the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill being considered by MPs would create “an entirely unfit new system of protection”.
It said: “Alarmingly, the bill proposes to triple the time that people can be deprived of their liberty without review (from one to three years) while not doing enough to guarantee that all patients have access to independent and impartial advocates.”
It added: “The result is a rushed, incomplete and unworkable bill that will replace one dysfunctional system with another.”
A 2014 Supreme Court ruling enshrined deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) in the Mental Capacity Act 2005, to ensure independent oversight of the powers in care homes and hospitals so they’re used in patients’ best interests.
Council-appointed independent assessors are responsible for reviewing DoLS decisions, however they take on average four months to complete – while 48,000 people have waited more than a year for a decision.
The government’s proposed changes are intended to streamline this process, however critics have said it is cost-cutting at the expense of vulnerable people.
Half of the 227,000 DoLS approved each year are for people with dementia, and Jeremy Hughes, head of the Alzheimer’s Society told The Times: “Under the proposals people with dementia find themselves in a worrying situation, unable to comment [honestly] on the quality of the care they receive, because care home managers would be in charge of asking residents about their care.
The Department for Health and Social Care said: “Our bill will reform a broken system and ensure vulnerable people can more quickly access legal protections. We have listened carefully to feedback from stakeholders and parliamentarians and made amendments, including excluding care home managers from granting authorisations or completing assessments. This will ensure all applications are independently scrutinised.”
Vulnerable patients could be locked up for three years without review under ‘rushed’ government reforms
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