Patients will no longer be sent to ‘ locked units’
ELDERLY patients including people suffering from dementia will no longer be sent to ‘ locked units’ by Scotland’s largest health board after a human rights intervention.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had previously placed patients in ‘ interim care’ beds in secure accommodation – prompting human rights concerns about deprivation of liberty.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission ( EHRC) discovered patients who were medically fit to be discharged from hospital but lacked capacity to make decisions about their personal welfare were being transferred into and held in two care homes in Glasgow “without consent or lawful authority”.
It had been pursuing a judicial review at the Court of Session but has now reached a settlement on ending the “unlawful detention of adults with incapacity”, and halted legal proceedings against NHS GGC, and HC One Oval Ltd, the owner of a chain of care homes. It said HC One Oval Ltd has also agreed not to accept the transfer of patients from hospitals in terms of this previous practice.
The EHRC said patients did not have a legal guardian to assist them, and were kept in homes for periods ranging between a few weeks and a year, pending the appointment of a welfare guardian.
The commission maintained patients were kept in locked accommodation controlled by a keypad entry system and that Police Scotland would have been contacted if they had left.
The EHRC argued this practice was unlawful, discriminatory and contrary to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Lynn Welsh, head of legal at the EHRC, said: “It is critical that decisions about people’s lives take account of their will and preferences.
“NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have accepted that our human rights concerns were legitimate and have taken steps to end the practice.”
EHRC said that a hearing before Lady Carmichael in the Court of Session yesterday saw all parties agree to dismiss the judicial review on the basis of the settlement.
A spokesman for HC One said: “The contract in question was inherited from the previous owners and it is no longer active and no current residents are supported under this agreement.”
A spokesman for NHS GGC said: “We have engaged with the EHRC over a number months to understand their concerns and to resolve issues raised during the process.”