Go-ahead for legal challenge over ‘locked unit’ concerns
A HUMAN rights organisation was given the go-ahead to bring a legal challenge against a health board in a deprivation of liberty claim over people being held in locked units.
The Commission for Equality and Human Rights has raised a court action challenging the practice and policy of the health board in Glasgow in housing former elderly patients, some with dementia, in “interim care” beds.
It has brought a judicial review at the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking to have it declared unlawful, amounting to a deprivation of liberty and a breach of human rights.
It is challenging the decision to accommodate and detain elderly people, who have been assessed as adults with incapacity, in locked units at two care homes in Glasgow.
Following a hearing in the action a judge, Lady Carmichael, said she was satisfied that she should grant permission for the case to proceed to a full hearing.
The commission said it works towards reducing inequality, eliminating discrimination and protecting and promoting human rights.
The legal action concerns patients who no longer require to be in hospital for medical reasons, but do require long term care and have been assessed as lacking capacity and are awaiting guardianship orders.
The commission said the health authority provides “interim care” for a potential 54 such people at two units in the city.
It maintains that the current practice and policy over the provision of this care fails to ensure that people are not deprived of their liberty without proper safeguards and that it is discriminatory.
It is said they are not free to leave and they are housed in a locked area controlled by a keypad entry system and if they did get out they would be returned by the police.
Dorothy Bain QC, for the commission, told the court that people were being accommodated in the units “without any legal authority”.
Laura Dunlop QC, for the health authority, argued the court was not equipped to conduct a general audit of how the health board discharged its duty of care to such people.
She said: “There plainly is a duty to look after frail, elderly people. These are individuals who could not simply be discharged to fend for themselves.”
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of all patients in our care.
“We note the decision of the Court today but are unable to comment further while legal proceedings are pending.”