Supervision and restriction of patients at home

Abstract

There are laws laid down in mental health legislation, which permit the detention of patients in hospital under clinical supervision. But there is no legislative provision for patients who are cared for at home in association with district nurses. The law relating to the care of such patients comes from the ordinary common law relating to duties of care and their associated standards, to consent to treatment and to confidentiality and privacy of information. Much of established English law is to be found in court decisions relating to claimants who have been in hospital. The law relating to the supervision of patients who are being cared for at home requires separate examination. John Finch, a freelance journalist specialising in the law and ethics of healthcare, takes a look at some of the legal aspects of home care and treatment with a particular eye supervision and restrictions which need to be placed on liberty and movement which would not be required in the absence of vulnerability.