Brain rehabilitation clinic blasted after it ‘unlawfully deprived’ patients of their freedom
By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter
A rehabilitation clinic has been blasted after it unlawfully took away patients’ freedom.
Inspectors discovered two people treated at Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre in Blackheath Hill were “unlawfully deprived of their liberty for several months” last year.
The details were revealed in a report by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC), published on Tuesday.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) allow authorities to limit people’s freedom to keep them safe in specific situations.
It can mean a person is locked in a ward or room, kept under close supervision or not allowed to go anywhere without permission.
Delays in submitting applications meant one person was unlawfully deprived of their liberty for three months between July and October 2022.
Another had their freedoms illegally limited for more than two months between August and November 2022.
The CQC report, which rated the clinic as requiring improvement, said: “Staff had delayed making applications for a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) for two patients. This meant these two patients were being unlawfully deprived of their liberty.”
The clinic was rated as requiring improvement in three areas – its safety, efectiveness and leadership, and good in two others – how caring it was and its responsiveness.
The CQC report praised staff for treating patients with care and encouraging them in their rehabilitation goals.
A spokeswoman for Active Care group said: “We accept that the findings of the report identify some areas of improvement to our service provision.
“There was an administrative failing at the site resulting in delays in renewing two deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLs).
“The applications were made immediately but subsequently withdrawn as they were not required, and both patients have subsequently been successfully discharged as planned.
“We are committed to improving the efficiency of our administrative systems.”
Pictured top: The entrance to the Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre in Blackheath Hill (Picture: Google Street View)
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