Policy may have breached the human rights of elderly patients
VULNERABLE elderly patients may have had their human rights breached by being moved to care homes without consent, opposition leaders claim.
Official figures show that 236 patients were unable to leave hospital in February because they had no appointed ‘power of attorney’ in place to approve their care plans.
The Scottish Government has revealed that 921 patients were discharged from hospital into care homes in February.
Now concerns have been raised that these patients may have included some who had nobody in place to approve the move on their behalf.
The issue was highlighted by Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs during yesterday’s First Minister’s Questions session.
He said: ‘How many patients with no power of attorney were discharged during the crisis? What legal framework has the Scottish Government used to take decisions to move individuals to care homes? What assessments of those individuals’ human rights have ministers undertaken?’
Miss Sturgeon pledged to look at the issue in detail and give a written response. She added: ‘When people are in the situation that he has identified, it is really important they are not discharged without power of attorney and that the proper legal steps are taken.’
The SNP has repeatedly pledged to end so-called delayed discharge – when patients are stuck in hospital because they have nowhere to go or there is no care plan.
Official figures show there were 1,627 people in this situation in February. Among them, 1,275 were still in hospital because of health and social care reasons, including place availability, care arrangements or assessment.
A further 38 were there because of patient and familyrelated reasons, while 314 faced ‘code 9’ delays – including 236 ‘adults with incapacity’ who do not have a power of attorney.
Mr Briggs said: ‘There are significant and growing concerns surrounding how SNP Ministers have managed the Covid19 crisis in care homes.
‘SNP ministers have failed to provide details on the numbers of patients who have been moved from hospital to care homes. Scottish Conservatives have sought answers at every stage surrounding the failure to put in place safeguarding and clinical guidance to protect residents and care home staff.
‘After this crisis is over, SNP ministers will have to answer how we have seen such a crisis in what has gone so wrong to help protect the most vulnerable in our society.’
SNP ministers have faced widespread criticism for emptying hospitals of delayed discharge patients without testing them first at the start of the outbreak in March. Concerns have been raised that some may have triggered outbreaks in care homes if they had the virus, while others may have been put in danger by entering a facility with a live outbreak.
Former health secretary Shona Robison announced in early 2015 that delayed discharge, also known as bedblocking, would be eradicated by the end of that year – and the SNP Government has faced widespread criticism for failing to deliver on the pledge.
Labour MSP Neil Findlay also said yesterday: ‘Does the First Minister accept that all those delayed discharge patients and their families, who for years were told that they were delayed because no care home place or care package was available, were in fact misled, and that the real reason that they were stuck in hospital was because integration joint boards and councils did not have the money to purchase the care packages needed?’
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We always have to work within the resources that we have.
‘The Government I lead has prioritised health and social care all along. We received additional funding through the consequentials route at the start of the crisis to help us with the health and social care impacts, and we took decisions to try to mitigate the impacts as much as possible.’
‘Proper legal steps are taken’