Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
One of the key legal issues of our time is the human rights of the elderly and a key focus is how restricted the elderly are in care..
Recently, the Supreme Court judgement, in the cases of P v Cheshire West and Chester Council and P&Q v Surrey County Council, brought in a revised test that effectively lowered the threshold for deprivation of liberty in care..
It also rendered irrelevant factors that had been allowed for in the past, such as whether the person objected to their care arrangements..
The judgement was welcomed for extending key human rights safeguards to a broader group of vulnerable people. .
However, overnight, many people in care homes, hospitals and supported living arrangements suddenly met the threshold to have their care arrangements assessed or reassessed to see if they were deprived of their liberty and, if so, whether or not this was in their best interests.
The overall numbers have soared from just over 10,000 last year, to a predicted 94,000 this year, according to the Association of Directors of Social Services. While the ruling brings welcome clarity to the area, it could cost councils nationally an extra £80m this year, Adass calculates.
By way of background, doctors may decide to apply to deprive an individual of their liberty because they believe the patient, who usually has dementia or severe learning difficulties, would come to harm otherwise.
Since 2009, if a hospital or care home wants to deprive a patient of their liberty – by stopping where they can go, or what they can do – it must get any such restrictions approved by the local authority
Any restrictions must be the minimum necessary. Patients' views and best interests must be taken into account and decisions must be reviewed regularly. Those wishing to appeal can challenge any decision to curb their liberty in the court of protection. Similar safeguards apply where the person whose liberty is restricted is living in their own home, but the decision to deprive their liberty is taken by the court of protection, not the local authority
The numbers are not totally pretty. Half of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (Dols) cases are breaching legal timescales for completion.
Local authorities are seeing their budgets impacted as they have to spend more money to deal with the applications..