HOW THE ELDERLY ARE LOCKED UP AGAINST THEIR WILL IN THE UK

Prisoners of care homes: Devastating report reveals tens of thousands of elderly and vulnerable people locked up against their will.

 

Many are dumped in homes as money-saving measure or for convenience

Care homes are often cheaper than caring for the elderly in their own home

Judge: 'People are being deprived of liberty without protection of the law'

Tens of thousands of vulnerable pensioners are being forced into care homes against their will, an inquiry reveals today.

It says laws supposed to protect the elderly are instead being used to take away their rights.

The House of Lords inquiry suggests many are dumped in residential homes to make it easier to control them or simply to save money.

 

Peers blame the scandal on Labour’s botched Mental Capacity Act. They say the law, which was meant to help those unable to make decisions for themselves, should be rewritten.

 

Lord Hardie, who led the inquiry, 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.’

 

The retired Scottish judge singled out for criticism the ‘deprivation of liberty safeguards’ added to the act after the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights.

 

‘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. ‘We were told the provisions were poorly drafted, overly complex and bureaucratic.

 

‘A senior judge described the experience of trying to write a judgment on the safeguards as feeling “as if you have been in a washing machine and spin dryer”.’

 

The 2005 legislation set up the Court of Protection, which is only now being opened to public scrutiny after a series of scandals.  Under a veil of secrecy, it has ordered people to be kept in care homes. In other cases, social workers have acted without legal go-ahead.

 

It is thought many of the pensioners could have stayed at home or in sheltered accommodation.

 

The report also pointed to the way the act was used by social workers as an excuse for not helping people – and thereby saving money.

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