protecting a vulnerable adult
the challenge:
A patient, who lacked the capacity to make his own
healthcare decisions, had been removed from a local hospital by his
estranged wife without essential medication. We were instructed by
the hospital trust as an emergency court order was required to
deliver the patient back to hospital within six hours to receive
life-saving medication.
our approach:
We immediately contacted the local authority social services
team and worked closely with them to manage an emergency
application to a high court judge. There were a number of things
that needed to be undertaken to obtain the court order and we
co-ordinated the required tasks between the local authority
in-house legal team, the hospital trust and our own team to ensure
that everything was done promptly. We also ensured that the police
were kept informed at all stages so that they could secure
immediate execution of the court order when it had been
granted.
the results:
Co-operation between the teams ensured the court order was
achieved within the six hour timeframe; the patient was safely
returned to the hospital and received the life-saving medication he
needed; legal costs were minimised throughout the process.