Family overturns 'lift ban'

Family overturns 'lift ban'

The council will consider the court's ruling

The High Court has backed a family's attempt to overturn a council ban on lifting disabled, elderly and sick people, in what could be a landmark ruling.

The family, who cannot be named for legal reasons, challenged a ban by East Sussex County Council on care workers manually lifting their two adult disabled daughters.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Mumby ruled there must be a balance between care workers' safety and the rights of disabled people.

He said: "For much of the time East Sussex County Council and its officers seem to me to have gone out of their way to try and help this family."

The council said it would study the 90-page court report to see exactly what implications it may have.

'Piece of furniture'

In a statement the council said: "We are currently analysing it to see how our procedures and guidance to staff and care providers needs to be revised.

"This will take some time because of the size and complexity of the document."

The county council introduced the guidelines in 1993 and says it has refined them since after consultation with experts including the Health and Safety Executive, the Royal College of Nursing and back pain charity BackCare.

The mother of the two women, who have very profound learning and physical difficulties, said: "The health and safety legislation did not differentiate between picking up a human being and picking up a piece of furniture.

"Up until now the balance has been much more in favour of the care worker than it has been in favour of the disabled person."