Patients 'imprisoned' in care homes, report finds
The committee said it was “very concerned by what we heard about the safeguards”
The report highlighted the case of Steven Neary, who has autism and a severe learning difficulty.
Vulnerable adults are being kept virtual prisoners in care homes because of misuse of mental health laws, a House of Lords committee says.
The report expressed serious concerns that safeguards brought in to protect vulnerable patients are actually being used to “oppress” them.
It looked at how reforms passed in 2005 are working, but called for a new system to be drawn up from scratch.
The Ministry of Justice said it welcomed the report.
The report found that vulnerable adults are being failed by the Mental Capacity Act, which passed in 2005.
In 2009, his father, Mark, asked Hillingdon Council to provide some short-tern respite care.The report said staff found Steven’s behaviour challenging and were concerned about his return home and agreed he would stay in care for a couple of weeks.
“In fact, the council had already decided that Steven should not be allowed to return home and kept him at the facility for nearly a year”, the report said.
“During this time plans were made to send Steven to live permanently at a facility in Wales.”
The Court of Protection held that Steven had been unlawfully detained and ordered that he must return home to live with his father.
The act introduced a series of principles aimed at protecting people with mental illnesses, including those with dementia or severe learning difficulties.
‘Deprived of liberty’
However, the report found that social workers, healthcare professionals and other people involved in the care of vulnerable adults are not aware of the act and are failing to implement it.
The report, by a House of Lords select committee set up to examine how the act is working in practice, concluded that the legislation “is not working at all well”.
“We were very concerned by what we heard about the safeguards”, Lord Hardie said.
“The evidence suggests that tens of thousands of people are being deprived of their liberty without the protection of the law, and without the protection that Parliament intended.
“Worse still, in some cases the safeguards are being wilfully used to oppress individuals and to force decisions upon them, regardless of what actions may be in their best interests.”
Lord Hardie said the act was seen as a “visionary piece of legislation”, when it was passed.
It should have marked a “turning point in the rights of vulnerable people; those with learning difficulties, dementia, brain injuries or temporary impairment”, he said.
However, he said: “Those who may lack capacity have legal rights under the act, but they are not being fulfilled. In many cases complying with the act is treated like an optional add-on – nice to have, but not essential.
“In short, the act is not being implemented.”
The report concluded that “the only appropriate recommendation in the face of such criticism is to start again”.
Lord Hardie said the committee believes the 2005 act “is good and it needs to be implemented” but called for a change in attitudes and practice across the health and social care sector.
‘More needs doing’
The committee recommended that an independent body be given responsibility for oversight of the act “to drive forward vital changes in practice”.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said “more needs to be done” to make the 2005 legislation “is more widely understood”.
“We welcome the select committee’s report. This is an important piece of legislation”, the spokesman said.
“The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health will consider the House of Lords’ report in detail and we will publish a full response in due course.”
