Why the courts are still talking about coronavirus vaccination

I want to talk about the case of North Yorkshire CCG v E and others, which was heard only recently and explored whether or not it was in E’s best interests to be vaccinated against coronavirus. At first glance, it seems that this is a settled issue. Certainly, there is now a consistent stream ofContinue reading “Why the courts are still talking about coronavirus vaccination”

Supporting hospital discharge: Discharge to Assess part 1

This should really have been the first in my hospital discharge series, this being the most far-reaching of the policies I have explored. But its taken me a while to order my thoughts on this, and I’ve ended up breaking this into two posts. In this one, I’m going to talk ‘broad brush’ principles andContinue reading “Supporting hospital discharge: Discharge to Assess part 1”

Mental Capacity Act and covid-19 vaccination: the court’s approach so far

There have, to my knowledge, been 2 reported cases on this issue so far: E (Vaccine) [2021] EWCOP 7 and SD v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2021] EWCOP 14 Initially, I wasn’t planning on talking about this subject. Primarily because for those of us in local authority this is not really high onContinue reading “Mental Capacity Act and covid-19 vaccination: the court’s approach so far”

Supporting hospital discharge: halfway hotels

This is the second in my series of posts about supporting hospital discharge during the pandemic. It will explore the as yet unnamed proposals for discharge hotels in all their complicated, vague glory. The first of those posts discussed designated settings for covid positive patients, and the complications involved in the creation of such settingsContinue reading “Supporting hospital discharge: halfway hotels”

The end of remote assessment for Mental Health Act 1983 purposes

This is a brief post on the implications of the judgment in Devon Partnership NHS Trust v SSHC [2021] EWHC 101 (Admin). I say brief, because I don’t have much to say beyond what has already been said. If you are not familiar with the judgement, then I will assume you have an enviable ability toContinue reading “The end of remote assessment for Mental Health Act 1983 purposes”

Supporting hospital discharge: Designated settings

There are lots of bright ideas floating around at the moment about what social care can do to help ease pressures in NHS services. I’m going to talk through a few of them, because they are being made to seem much more straightforward than they actually are. Let’s begin with designated settings. When I talkedContinue reading “Supporting hospital discharge: Designated settings”

A response to the government’s Christmas present to us all

Just a quick post today that as far as I can tell, the provisions enabling respite that I referred to in my previous post about those in supported accommodation visiting family during the pandemic continue in the latest iteration of the coronavirus regulations in all tiers (even tier 4). My previous post is here. SoContinue reading “A response to the government’s Christmas present to us all”

Coronavirus lockdown: do all planned visits to family homes have to stop?

The answer, in short is, in my opinion, no. However, there are a number of issues to consider before a weekend with the family, or some formal respite, is supported. In this post, I’ll talk about 3 big issues, 2 legal, 1 practical. But before we get started, I just want to detail the kindContinue reading “Coronavirus lockdown: do all planned visits to family homes have to stop?”

Visiting in care homes

This continues to be a hot topic, understandably. And pressure seems to be mounting, with an overdue policy shift towards enabling visits beginning to develop. And rightly so. A ban for a few weeks was one thing, but it’s been months now, and there is no real end in sight. So this post will talkContinue reading “Visiting in care homes”

Winter is coming – a brief word on the adult social care winter plan

There is so much guidance coming out at the moment that it is almost impossible to keep on top of it. I’m not even going to try to comment on every bit of it as it comes up. And I’ve already read Alex Ruck-Keane’s walk-through of the latest MCA guidance, I’m sure most of youContinue reading “Winter is coming – a brief word on the adult social care winter plan”