I’m looking to figure out how we determine which LA/ICB is responsible for a patient who was initially sentenced to prison but was then transferred to hospital when they became unwell? I presume that it will be the area in which the person was living when they were sentenced?
What about in this scenario;
-Person commits offence (in area A) and is sentence to life. Released on parole after serving the minimum tariff.
-Person moves to area B after release to stay with a friend
-Person is recalled to prison after a few years due to breaching conditions
-Person becomes unwell and receives a S47 transfer.
If the person was last resident in area B prior to the recall that led to the hospital transfer order, is it area B now? Or is it area A because this is where the original life sentence was given?
Recent caselaw around this- Not S117 entitled until discharged from Section. If planning hospital release would need MHT to in effect discharge and then seek Parole Board release at which point you would seek clarification re S117 responsibility for funding etc if required. NHSE commissioners would normally go with last GP for in-pt funding/ gatekeeping prior to this. I would expect there would be an argument that the detention would revert back to where pt was last ordinarily resident ie area B.
For the local authority, I think in the first scenario it would be the area in which he was ordinarily resident before sentencing, and in the second scenario it would instead be the area in which he was ordinarily resident before recall to prison (which would be area B since he settled there voluntarily).