Legal bid to help autistic man held in hospital

LAWYERS HAVE been instructed to try and help a man who has been held in mental health hospitals for the past 13 years.

Ryan Addison, who has been diagnosed with autism, psychosis and mild learning disabilities, has been kept in long-term segregation at the Humber Centre near Hull for nearly four years.

Among the patients at the secure unit are criminals detained under hospital orders, but his mother Sharon Clarke says he has never committed a crime and she fears his physical and mental health is deteriorating.

Since the start of the pandemic, which meant she was unable to visit for three months, apart from making Skype calls, she says her son has been self-harming more and injuring his face.

Mrs Clarke, from Adwick-leStreet, Doncaster, has instructed lawyers from Irwin Mitchell on a potential legal challenge to get the 31-year-old a suitable package of care in the community.

She said: “It’s heartbreaking to see Ryan the way he is. At the minute he just exists.

“For the first four years he was on an open psychiatric ward which wasn’t too bad, but once he got onto forensic wards the care was terrible.

“He should never have been on a forensic ward because he is not a criminal. He is in the wrong place. He doesn’t have any quality of life and we only worry things will get worse if nothing is done.”

Mr Addison is among 2,085 people with a learning disability held in so-called assessment and treatment units (ATU), according to official figures to the end of June.

He was voluntarily detained in a hospital in 2006 when his behaviour deteriorated, culminating in him self-harming.

ATUs are designed to be short stay placements for people with learning disabilities so they can receive treatment before moving back into the community.

Humber Teaching Foundation NHS Trust last night said they were in “complete agreement” that Mr Addison’s current placement was “inappropriate”.

Following positive meetings with commissioners last week, they are taking steps to have him discharged into a community setting which will be better placed to meet his needs.