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Landmark Health and Social Care Insight
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This is the latest update on developments in health and social care law from Landmark Chambers. We hope you will find this briefing useful; please feel free to forward it to your colleagues.
Editors: David Lock QC, Samantha Broadfoot QC, Leon Glenister and Hannah Gibbs.
Assistant Editor: Faryal Shafi
Click here to make an enquiry or for further information about our specialist public law barristers.
Please be advised that the information contained within this newsletter does not constitute legal advice. Click here for details.
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| Court refuses to grant a declaration authorising continuing deprivation of liberty of 14-year-old girl |
| Charles Bishop |
| The High Court in An NHS Trust v HT [2022] EWHC 719 (Fam) has refused to grant a declaration to authorise continuing deprivation of liberty (DoL) of a child detained in a hospital, solely as a place of safety, and without any prior authorisation of DoL by the NHS Trust or Manchester City Council. |
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| The arrangements included extreme restraints on her movements that did not address her physical or psychiatric needs. In a scathing judgment, Macdonald J decided that these arrangements were not in the best interests of the child and issued a warning to local authorities responsible for the provision of care to children with complex needs that they should not assume that deprivation of liberty orders will be granted automatically. |
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| The Health and Care Professions Council’s social media guidance and the rights to freedom of expression and respect for private life |
| Georgina Fenton |
| A recent judicial review case, in which David Lock QC and Georgina Fenton (on instructions from Andrea James of Brabners LLP) acted for the Claimant, raised questions about the extent to which regulated professionals could be sanctioned for expressing robust but justified views on social media. |
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| The case raised some interesting issues regarding the Health and Care Professions Council’s (“HCPC”) social media guidance and the rights to freedom of expression and respect for private life. However, there will be no judgment as the HCPC accepted that its Investigating Committee had erred in law and the decision was quashed by consent. In addition, the HCPC has agreed to commence a formal review of its published social media guidance. |
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| Clinical Commissioning Groups are now abolished and are replaced with Integrated Care Boards |
| David Lock QC |
| Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have now come into effect as from 1 July 2022. The new statutory bodies, ICBs, are intended to bring NHS providers together locally with the aim of improving population health and establishing shared strategic priorities. However, the jury is out on whether this NHS arrangement will deliver any real change on the ground or whether it will deliver a more holistic and joined up NHS. |
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| Investigating harmful sexual behaviour: A practical guide for schools (in a nutshell) |
| Joe Thomas |
| Schools are under a statutory duty to safeguard pupils in their charge but such safeguarding poses enormous challenges, including the circumstances in which the misconduct takes place and the complications of working alongside the police and children’s services. |
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| In this article, Joe Thomas provides a brief overview of the practical steps schools can take to discharge their duty. |
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| Changes on the way to reconfiguration of local NHS services |
| David Lock QC |
| The Health and Care Act 2022 makes changes to the way that the Secretary of State will be able to intervene in changes to NHS services. |
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| When the new provisions take effect, the Secretary of State will have a “call in” power and, if a decision is called in, the Secretary of State can act as a local decision maker to decide what changes, if any, should be made to local NHS services. This is a major change to the NHS reconfiguration process, although the details will only become clear when Regulations and Guidance is published. |
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| Section 117 aftercare guidance issued |
| Leon Glenister |
| The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman have issued joint guidance on section 117 aftercare services (“the Guidance”). Leon Glenister provides a brief overview. |
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| Approach to assessing Lasting Power of Attorney capacity clarified |
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| The judgment includes a ‘checklist’ of the relevant information the donor will need to understand to have capacity and the evidence which should inform any assessment of past capacity, including retrospective determinations of capacity by the Court of Protection, and should be key reading for all professionals (including in the legal and care sectors) and lay people involved with the execution and operation of LPAs. |
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Public Law at Landmark Chambers
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Public law involves the rules that govern the way all aspects of government interact with citizens, companies, non-governmental organisations, public bodies and other governments.
It covers everything from the grant of telecommunication licences to major corporates, all aspects of the law of the NHS, through to the rules affecting the detention of asylum seekers.
Each area has its own complex set of rules but there are overriding principles of public law which govern how public bodies are required to act. Our public lawyers have, between them, a huge depth of experience.
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