The elderly have a right to live their final years with dignity and have an active life in the community, instead of being forced to end their days in hospital, cared for by strangers and separated from their families. 

Jacqueline is an 82 year old woman with dementia and osteoporosis.  On 10 April 2014 the health and social services removed her from our home.  Since then she has been confined in hospital under a Compulsory Treatment Order.  The only 'treatment' she is receiving is personal care which I provided at home.  She has not been allowed to leave the hospital building for social and recreational outings.  She is rarely allowed to walk, and then only for short distances and with the support of two nurses.  I am not allowed to walk with her, nor to try to restore her mobility, which I have done in the past and the hospital has failed to do, having rejected my help.

Jacqueline's detention in hospital is a breach of her human rights.  She has in myself (her elder son Barry) an experienced and devoted full-time Primary Carer, who was supporting her in the community since 2010.  It is contrary to national policy in Scotland which pledges support to those with dementia and their carers :

2. People with dementia and their carers have the right to live as independently as possible with access to recreational, leisure and cultural life in their community.
3. People with dementia and their carers have the right to full participation in care needs assessment, planning, deciding and arranging care, support and treatment, including advanced decision making.
6. Public and private bodies, voluntary organisations and individuals responsible for the care and treatment of persons with dementia should be held accountable for the respect, protection and fulfilment of their human rights and adequate steps should be adopted to ensure this is the case.
9. People with dementia have the right to help to attain and maintain maximum independence, physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life.
15.  People with dementia have the right, regardless of diagnosis,
to the same civil and legal rights as everyone else.

[from The Charter of Rights for People with Dementia and their Carers in Scotland (2009)]

Please support my petition to have my mother Jacqueline released from hospital so that she can enjoy her remaining years of life with her devoted son, doing the things she enjoys most (walking, riding on buses, meeting children and dogs in the park) and being as independent as possible.

Scotland claims to be leading the world in its care of and legislation to support the elderly.  My mother's case, which is not unique, shows that legislation which purports to safeguard the human rights of the elderly can so easily be used to take them away.   

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CASE HISTORY

Since June 2005 Jacqueline has lived with me, her elder son Barry.  I became her full-time carer after her diagnosis of dementia in 2010.  

In December 2013 she suffered two falls at home, fracturing her right shoulder and left hip.  Following a successful hip operation, hospital physiotherapists failed to get her to walk again, and refused my offers of assistance even after I had gotten her to walk 6 metres with minimal support.  The hospital/social work Discharge Planning Team (which included the Chief Nursing Officer for West Lothian, Gill Cottrell) refused to allow Jacqueline to return to her home.  They said that, for her own safety, Jacqueline should not be allowed to regain her mobility, and should remain in hospital or a Nursing Home.  The team refused my request for an assessment of my ability to mobilise Jacqueline safely on my own and to care for her safely at home.

Appalled by this medical advice, I removed Jacqueline from hospital on 3 April 2014 and resumed caring for her at home.  I was her Welfare Guardian at the time, and had the right to make this decision.   During the following week Jacqueline's health and mobility improved to the extent that she was able to climb stairs with assistance and walk short distances without any support. She resumed community life, going on wheelchair and bus rides, shopping trips and visits to Dementia Cafes.

Despite the fact that Jacqueline was happy at home and had suffered no injuries or harm since her return, a mental health officer (Mark McIlwraith) and a psychiatrist (Raj Jayawardena) from West Lothian CHCP visited on 10 April 2014 and issued a Short Term Detention Certificate under the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, compelling her return to hospital. 'Dr Raj' made no examination of Jacqueline, who remained resting under a duvet throughout the visit.  He saw no evidence that she was at any risk of harm, but nevertheless certified her to be at significant risk of falls and fractures and 'self-neglect' if she remained at home.  

In similar circumstances when I had withdrawn Jacqueline from a Nursing Home in October 2012, an assessment of her safety at home had been made by an occupational therapist at the request of social work.  No such assessment was made in April 2014, despite the obvious need for one. 

The detention certificate was followed by a Compulsory Treatment Order which was approved by the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland on 4 June 2014.  Since then I have appealed unsuccessfully against the CTO in the Sheriff Court and the Court of Session in Scotland, despite having no legal assistance.  I believe that I have not had a fair hearing.  My first-hand evidence of caring for and mobilising my mother safely during 3-10 April 2014 and prior to the falls in December 2013, was ignored in favour the professional opinions of Dr Raj and Dr Roscrow, despite the latter having no basis in any documented facts.  

According to the ward consultant, Dr Suzanne Roscrow, Jacqueline is being detained to treat her 'agitation' when dementia-trained nurses care for her.  She did not get agitated during care at home.  The treatment (nursing by strangers in hospital) is the cause of the symptom (agitation).  Dr Roscrow is also imposing 'treatment' for Jacqueline's weak leg muscles - viz. full support by trained nurses when she is being mobilised.  By law the CTO can only authorise treatment for the mental disorder (dementia), not for physical disorders. 

Jacqueline was admitted to Tippethill House Hospital (a satellite of St Johns Hospital, Livingston) on 5 June 2014.  Despite the provision of 24/7 care, she has fallen 4 times at this hospital - and 3 times previously at St Johns Hospital, Livingston -  fracturing her wrist in two places on 11 December 2014.  Several other patients have had falls and fractures in the hospital during this time. One became bed/chair-bound and lost verbal communication after fracturing her hip and skull.  Another, who had walked regularly around the ward, fractured her hip twice recently - the second time being only a few days after returning from an operation for the first fracture - and at the time of writing is bed-bound and attended 24/7 to ensure that she does not walk again.

Reports by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE clinical guideline 161, June 2013) and the Care Inspectorate/NHS Scotland ('Managing Falls and Fractures in Care Homes for Older People : Good Practice Self Assessment Resource.' 2011) state that falls among the elderly in hospitals and care homes are 3 times more common than in the community, and fractures 10 times more common.  Even in the community, 50% of people over 75 are likely to have at least one fall in the next year.  In this context, Jacqueline's falls at home are not extraordinary.  The assumption that hospital is a safer place for Jacqueline is not justified.

Jacqueline's health is deteriorating through lack of exercise.  At times she is close to tears with frustration because she is not allowed to walk when she wants to, nor to get out of the noisy ward.  

Dr Roscrow claims that rehabilitation will significantly increase Jacqueline's risk of falls and fractures, but neither she nor her colleagues have assessed my ability to mobilise and care for her safely, and refuses to do so.  A psychiatrist, she has no expertise in muscular-skeletal problems in the elderly but has rejected exercises recommended by such a specialist geriatrician to improve Jacqueline's mobility.  West Lothian CHCP advises its elderly in the community that daily weight-bearing exercise is the most effective way to combat the risk of falls and fractures.  In its hospitals it follows a policy which is the exact opposite - discouraging patients from walking.  

Dr Roscrow refuses to allow me to take Jacqueline out of the hospital, even into the surrounding grounds where she may feel less imprisoned.  A visit to a Dementia Cafe was permitted in August 2015 accompanied by 2 nurses.  This was Jacqueline's first time out of hospital since her detention began on 10 April 2014.