Person has a hearing on Tuesday, and the solicitor hasn’t given him any information about this forthcoming event. His IMHA has ignored emails and phone calls for the last five weeks, so he doesn’t have that support either. Is this a situation where he can ask to have it set aside. What is his best course of action as he is not prepared in any way.
Hi Judy. You dont say what sort of hearing so its difficult to say what to do. I would suggest that person starts to talk with people on Monday. Starting with the court services or the ward manager, possible the care coordinator or the cmht lead. Someone in the court systems or nhs must know whats going on otherwise the person would nothave a hearing. Maybe the nhs managers even . Goog luck
I’m sorry, omitted the most important part! He was discharged from a S3 onto a CTO. My understanding is that he should have paperwork so as to make a challenge. It’s too late to ask for a delay, so what is the next best thing?
Go to hospital managers and report what has happened. Especialy the imha not getting in touch. Ask to see the AMHP report ,what is your invovlment with patient. Did patient agree to CTO and what are thecrequirement of the cto?
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Hi Judy. You don’t mention whether the patient knows how to attend his Tribunal.
If he does, he can ask for it to be adjourned as he hasn’t been able to make contact with his solicitor and wants to find alternative representation - the Tribunal is very likely to agree.
If he doesn’t then it becomes a Rule 39 issue for the Tribunal and they have to be sure (simplified) that he (a) knows the tribunal is taking place, and (b) doesn’t want to attend. In these circumstances the Tribunal would be unable to go ahead as well.
Best thing to do is try to contact the solicitor and try to make contact with either his CCO or the mental health act administration team at the responsible hospital for more information about the Tribunal.
So my involvement is purely to help the family, as his sister ( NR) is completely overwhelmed by the situation, which she feels is unfair and her opinion ignored.
The patient was discharged with the provision of a CTO to administer depot injections, which have made him very ill. ( he has a physical illness and the side effects on this illness being ignored). Also no aftercare put in place. Is it possible to get hold of the original AMHP report quite quickly and easily?
It seems today he has asked solicitor for more time and an adjournment is being sought. So I am hopeful this will allow more time to gather the correct information. TY.
Zac
Yes he knows how to attend but he has been ill advised throughout and now has to take action to remedy this. He has now made contact with solicitor and a request for adjournment made. His solicitor has now said he will meet him to show the reports. Yet I feel this is a late suggestion.
Thanks for input.
I’ve read your posts and the whole thread. It is pretty obvious that the individual is seriously disadvantaged by what has happened. The NR can be empowered, if possible. Here is an ‘extreme’ article on the role and powers of the NR: The Pivotal Role of the Nearest Relative in Mental Health Care (with fat disclaimers). As I never provide advice, you may wish to search through it to realise the NR’s powers and facilitate taking action.
Standard tips for taking action:
- Avoid phone calls to ‘people’ and ‘organisations’ - because they tend to be ignored - from my long experience.
- Emails: same as above.
- Obtain legal advice and/or action.
- If no means to obtain legal advice, then use the information from the linked article (after double checking) to put in stiff letters to various ‘people’ or ‘organisations’.
- If sending letters ensure proof of delivery is sought.
- Always keep 5 backup copies (3 electronic and 2 paper copies)
- Always request or demand responses within a reasonable time frame such as “X working days”.
- When in doubt, consider writing the ‘a Chief Exec’ and or MP.
- Keep an organised file and prepare for ‘battle’ or ‘war’.
- And finally psychological preparation is ‘everything’ as these things are so stressful. But ‘Never back down!’ https://youtu.be/xy921Pn3lhA - no it’s not ‘devil music’ - as I’ve been told - see lyrics Two Steps From Hell – Never Back Down Lyrics | Genius Lyrics - it’s my song before I go into battle. It may not work for everybody. Cheers.
So sorry I missed your reply. Somehow I didn’t get a notification. I’m going to read your comments more fully later, when I have time.
Thanks Russell.
Judy