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Mental health accusation

PaulPeterson

Hi, my name is PaulPeterson and I would like to ask a question about Adult Social Care.

What legal options have a person placed under adult safeguarding without consent?

Please think of situation where adult is remotely assessed as a risk to others and himself, placed under safeguarding and informed consent is overridden because of lack of capacity (again remotely assessed).

Personal information about that person along with instruction to "support" are shared between friends, family, employer, co-workers and anyone that person come into contact.

Basically Health care decided to "support" you against your will because you are sick. Please note that I am not a disabled person, but I am accused of having mental health issues. I was never diagnosed with any mental illness nor lacking capacity and I want to defend myself against this treatment.

Because I was accused of lack of capacity and my consent was overridden, I have no written proof of any proceedings against me. Just exact time and place when people around me start making comments about my mental health and knowing details from my private life. Details I never shared.

I understand that sharing information about safeguarded adult its important where there are serious concerns. I want to ask responsible authorities about those concerns and reason for not asking for my consent.

Many thanks

PaulPeterson

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Comments

Girl_No1

I'm sorry to hear you are in this situation, it sounds really difficult.

Have you contacted any specialist Mental Health organisations to get their specialist opinion/advice?

I know people on here will do their best to help you, but it sounds as though you may need specialist help with this situation?

https://www.mind.org.uk/

https://www.rethink.org/

Those are two agencies (MIND/Rethink) I know are nationwide, and there are very often local agencies too.

This website will lead you to resources local to you:

https://amhp.org.uk/

Beyond that, you could search locally for an advocate to help you through this situation. Advocates are very professional, emotionally detached, excellent communicators, and well-respected by other agencies.

I hope you keep well whilst navigating this situation.

wobblyone

Hi @PaulPeterson, welcome to the forum. I’m sorry to hear this is happening to you. I’m not a professional and don’t know much about the best way to tackle this but I do know that there is a criteria for determining that people lack capacity to make decisions for themselves.

there is more information here

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/making-decisions-for-someone-else/mental-capacity-act/

this is the criteria

“The MCA says a person is unable to make a decision if they cannot do 1 or more of these things:

understand the information relevant to the decision
retain that information for long enough to make the decision
use or weigh up that information as part of the process of making the decision
communicate their decision in any way”

There is also more information on ways to help people make decisions for themselves and they absolutely have to start with the belief that you have capacity unless proven otherwise.
They are also meant to offer reasonable adjustments to you if they believe you have a disability including mental health conditions.

people who are at risk of harming themselves or others can be treated under the mental health act. Even at that point they need to follow a protocol.

It is worth contacting a mental health charity or organisation for advice on what to do as it sounds like they are discriminating against you. Discrimination can happen for a perceived disability so even if you do not have a mental health condition and they are treating you badly because of it then it is discrimination.

In regards to your information you can look at the information commissioner site over what to do.

I don’t know the best thing to do as I would suggest following your council’s complaints procedure and also get help from your GP.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon.

PaulPeterson

Thank you for your advise.

I am only looking for a legal way to defend myself.

Legal action I can take against decisions of Social Services.

Solicitor acting on my behalf who can ask authorities about decisions made about me but without me.

Being accused of having mental health condition does not mean having one. I worked in local Hospital, criticised my employer and left job. Accusation about mental health and follow up safeguarding its a simple form of retaliation.

Also someone with expertise and practical experience about adult safeguarding would be very helpful in my case.

Littlefatfriend

Hi Paul

Appealing such a decision can be a complicated process and I encourage you to be very careful about sharing detailed information here or anywhere similar.

The place to begin is with the social worker involved in the case. If you ask them they should provide you with a formal description of the reasons for the safeguarding order.

If you still disagree your Local Authority will have a complaints procedure and a solicitor specialising in social care or safeguarding could advise you whether a judicial review might be possible.

If you are dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you can then take it to the Local Government Ombudsman, who investigates complaints about how local councils make decisions.

Scope is one of many charities who may help you with advocacy:

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/challenging-complaining-social-care-needs-assessment

It's likely there will be other organisations reasonably near you offering Independent Mental Health Advocacy. That (IMHA) is likely what may help you most. I've done it but stopped about 5 years ago. An IMHA will have undergone a lot of training and will have access to people who can certainly answer any questions they're unsure about. If you Googly "IMHA near me" there are likely to be local groups doing it.

Mind offer this advice too:

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/advocacy/what-can-an-advocate-can-help-me-with/

Good luck.

PaulPeterson

Hi @wobblyone, thank you for your advise

Lack of capacity its only one of few reasons consent for safeguarding can be overridden.

Safeguarding adults: sharing information - SCIE

Social Services have many ways to place and keep you under safeguarding without informing you. And doing so not allowing you to defend yourself.

I need a legal way to get this information.

Reason for safeguarding and reason for not informing me.

Knowing this will allow me to prepare my defense.

wobblyone

Hi @PaulPeterson sorry I didn’t quite understand. Are you a member of a union? If you are get in touch with them as soon as possible. This might be covered by employment law. You can speak to ACAS as well because leaving your job because of harassment might be considered constructive dismissal. Also if your criticism is considered whistleblowing you are meant to be protected legally.

The kind of harassment you are talking about sounds horrific because it sounds like someone who has abused their position. Mind has a legal line and they might still operate a blue light service. There is a difference between a long term or existing mental health condition and understandable distress as a reaction to harassment.

Unfortunately I don’t know enough about safeguarding to provide more help but I thought I reply again because it sounds like a lot to deal with.

In theory if you are being harassed you can report your harassment to the non emergency police by phoning 101. Document everything you do because legal action often means the burden of proof is on you. If you are affected by job loss, emotionally, financially eg. these will be taken into account when taken legal action.

Even if you do not have a mental illness you can also approach your GP if this has affected emotionally because they will be able to make note of your mental state at present and what you say is affecting you.

I hope someone can advise you soon. Try to focus

PaulPeterson

Hi @Littlefatfriend and thank you for your advise.

Knowing any person or organisation responsible for my safeguarding would be very helpful. Especially when safeguarding can be carried out by many providers on multi-agency bases. Unfortunately "without informed consent" means that any relevant information is withhold from me and even Subject Access Request to local Council, Police or GP will not confirm any proceedings.

Getting any confirmation from responsible authorities is crucial in my case.

I will follow your advise and try with SCOPE and IMHA. Thanks

charl1234

Try a organisation like voice abilities they advocate for people and have knowledge in this area

Rosie_Scope

That sounds like a really difficult situation @PaulPeterson. I think the members have given some great links so far, it's definitely worth looking into advocacy to see if they're able to help you with your case. It may also be worth keeping a written diary of what's happened or what is happening so that you've got evidence in case you need it.

Scope's helpline will be open tomorrow if you'd like to speak to someone about what you're going through and see if they have any advice:

Helpline | Disability charity Scope UK

PaulPeterson

Hi @charl1980, thank you. I will contact them.

charl1234

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1016605#Comment_1016605

For people in care homes or anything that people are deemed to not speak for themselves also possible if u have a disability network in your area, also ask the services u are under they should know advocacy services