Legal fears over mental health units

The most seriously ill are taken to Carstairs

Psychiatrists have warned the Scottish Executive that it may be breaking the law by failing to provide enough secure accommodation for mentally ill offenders.

The lack of places means that some patients are being kept in high-security units when they have no need to be there.

Others are kept in hospital psychiatric wards when they should be in medium-secure units.

The director of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland warned the executive that they have left themselves open to legal challenges under human rights law.

They are still there because of delays in moving to local facilities or because local facilities are just not available

Dr Jim Dyer

Dr Jim Dyer urged the executive to speed up plans to build new medium-security facilities.

The most seriously ill are treated at the high-security State Hospital at Carstairs.

Care policy

Others are housed in the one other medium security unit in Edinburgh.

But plans to build up to four other facilities have been held up by protests over their location, and a lack of money.

Psychiatrists gathered in Edinburgh on Friday to discuss progress on the executive's 1999 policy for the care and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in Scotland.

Dr Dyer said the Executive's 1999 policy was a "major step forward" but warned it had not moved on quickly enough.

Plans for new secure units have sparked protests

He said it was possible that a patient could bring a case against the executive if they were being held unnecessarily in a high-security unit but could not be moved elsewhere because of a lack of local facilities.

"I don't know what the result of that would be but clearly that's a risk.

"But worse than the risk to the executive is the situation of the person who is spending sometimes years in high-security care when they are ready to move on and make progress."

He said that there were 29 patients in the high-security state hospital who could have been released more than three months ago.

Public safety

"But they are still there because of delays in moving to local facilities or because local facilities are just not available," he said.

Dr Dyer also said that public safety could be threatened.

"That's always there while the policy is not fully implemented.

"That's one of the reasons as well as the human rights issue why we are holding this conference - to try and get everyone behind this policy and its implementation as quickly as possible."

The executive maintains that it is working to develop new treatment facilities and says public safety will not be compromised.

Health chiefs in the west of Scotland have launched a public consultation process as they seek a location for a new secure unit.