I am currently detained under section 3 of the MHA on a PICU. I have been detained since September 2024. Since March 2025 I have been classified as a delayed discharge and just waiting for a placement so I can be discharged from hospital and for the past 4 1/2 months I have had 2 incidents total (which has been caused due to lack of communication and my hospital admission), which is not ‘PICU behaviour.’ Social services have not yet found me a placement. I have escalated this to many higher bodies including my local MP, the child’s commissioner, and my social workers manager. I have also filed a formal complaint against my social worker due to the clear lack of communication and no placement being found in 10 months.
I was diagnosed with autism when I was 9 years old and when I’ve been hospitalised I’ve been diagnosed with C-PTSD and emotional dysregulation. However, I fought for those diagnoses to be removed and now I am only diagnosed with autism which causes my emotional dysregulation (not a separate diagnosis) .
I have just filed for a hospital mangers hearing and a tribunal, however, I don’t believe that’s going to escalate my case high enough or as quickly. So I have contacted my solicitor to ask if they could send a PAP letter and then potentially apply for a judicial review. Do you think my case is severe enough to apply for a judicial review/ PAP letter? Is there anything I can do to escalate it higher or quicker?
What is the cause or inaction that you’re looking to review? If they’re looking for a complex or bespoke placement then 10 months (although recognising it’s a very long time) probably is only just bordering on excessive. Social care is in a very sorry state. JR (in my view) would only be appropriate if you have more information (i.e. is the LA only looking for placements in a specific area or on a specified budget when they should be looking further afield or willing to pay more?).
My informal (read: not legal) advice is to find a solicitor you trust that can seek more information from the LA via the tribunal process. In my experience, when LAs have to justify delays or choices they make when looking for placements, the process gets quicker.
I’ll be cautious not to exceed myself by giving legal advice. The following is opinion only without a duty of care to you the OP.
The grounds for JR are available to everybody with internet access, search engine and/or AI resources.
The object of the JR must be known and targeted against the relevant criteria. In other words, ‘Who are you JR-ing, why and on what grounds?’ Those are matters for you and your lawyer(s).
I may have misunderstood your timeline but it sounds like you’ve been hospitalised for 16.5 months, while there is considerable dithering among the authorities.
I am unable respond on that because I do not know the depths of your case. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be supplying legal advice or opinion on the matter. Your lawyers are charged with answering those questions for you. But not to worry, someone else on this forum is likely to jump in and give you personalised advice soon.
If your detention is discharged, and there is no place for you to go to then the Hospital (presumably the NHS) will have to house you as an informal patient on an appropriate ward - especially where there seems to be a lack of S117 aftercare arrangements.
You need a lawyer fast - to resist the not uncommon scenario where they throw you out to some doss house, or B&B. Caution: I’m not saying ‘they’ will do that. I’m saying be vigilant for that scenario and hopefully it doesn’t happen. Or they can send your sofa-surfing to some relative (if they exist). Or they could send you to a post-discharge facility as a so-called ‘interim’ measure, which is just kicking the can down the road.
MP - yes! Ramp it up. I mean that. I’d go into ‘War Mode’ if it was me. Sorry not repeating what ‘War Mode’ means - I put it in other forum threads.
As you sound like a very intelligent person, I think may be an idea to a) consult with a lawyer and b) do some AI-assisted private research.