Low-risk patients in top secure hospital

Patients are regularly stuck inappropriately
in the State Psychiatric Hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire, due to
lack of community resources, the hospital’s medical director has
confirmed.

Dr Jenni Connaughton spoke out after the
parents of one patient, Darren Crichton, petitioned the Scottish
parliament about his two-year wait for discharge, which was being
frustrated by lack of resources in his home area. Connaughton said
that, while the numbers varied, currently 33 patients were in a
similar position to Crichton.

Last December the Scottish Health Advisory
Service reported that on average 40 patients at any one time were
stuck in Carstairs due to a lack of local resources. The service
claimed that these patients no longer need the top secure
environment of Carstairs and called for a network of medium secure
centres to be set up in Scotland. However, plans for such centres
in Glasgow and Edinburgh have met with fierce local opposition.