Decision Report 202003428

Summary

Following a short psychiatric hospital admission, C presented unwell on several occasions over the course of the next month. C complained that they weren’t sectioned under the Mental Health Act and given appropriate treatment. C’s behaviours at that time had prompted police involvement and the outcome of clinical assessments concluded that these behaviours were not driven by a mental health problem. C disagreed with this and was very distressed to subsequently be subject to a short imprisonment, before a judge ordered that they be admitted to a psychiatric unit.

We took independent advice from a consultant psychiatrist. We found that based on the information available at the time, reasonable conclusions were reached by the clinical team regarding the nature of C’s condition and the cause of their behaviours. We found that the action taken was in line with accepted practice in the circumstances. The clinicians all reached a consistent view as to the nature of C’s presenting condition and none were able to identify an underlying psychotic issue. We considered that C’s condition at that time was significantly different to when they were subsequently admitted to hospital, at which time a psychotic cause had become apparent. We did not uphold this complaint.