Decision Report 201301879

Summary

Ms C was admitted to Leverndale Hospital under a compulsory treatment order (an order that allows professionals to treat a person's mental illness). She was assessed by a consultant psychiatrist as suffering from paranoid psychosis (a form of delusional disorder). Ms C disagreed with this assessment and was concerned that the psychiatrist had rushed to a judgement based on little evidence. She believed he was reluctant to be seen to disagree with one of his senior colleagues who had assessed Ms C at home before her admission. Ms C was also concerned that the psychiatrist's assessment was based, in part, on incorrect information the police gave him, which he failed to challenge. Ms C said that she later learned that the psychiatrist had intended to discharge her around 11 days earlier than he eventually did.

During our investigation, we took independent advice from one of our medical advisers, who is a psychiatric specialist. We accepted their advice that Ms C's assessment, diagnosis and treatment were all reasonable. We also found the timing of Ms C's discharge to be appropriate and that she was allowed out of hospital on a limited basis before this, in line with accepted practice. We found no evidence to suggest that an earlier discharge date had been considered.