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What now for deprivations of liberty?

What will the effect of the postponement of the Liberty Protections Safeguards be on local authorities? Local Government Lawyer asked 50 adult social care lawyers for their views on the potential consequences.
SPOTLIGHT

A zero sum game?

The number of SEND tribunal cases is rising and the proportion of appeals ‘lost’ by local authorities is at a record high. Lottie Winson talks to education lawyers to understand the reasons why, and sets out the results of Local Government Lawyer’s exclusive survey.

Councillor leads crowdfunding for legal challenge over stroke unit closure in Thanet

A county councillor is to spearhead the crowdfunding for a legal challenge over the proposed closure of the stroke unit at the Queen Elisabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate.

Karen Constantine, who sits on Kent County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), said: “Thanet residents need a first-class stroke unit on their doorstep, not over a one-hour drive away. We need a Hyper Acute Stroke Unit, HASU, locally. Thanet is getting a raw deal and that isn’t good enough for the 150,000 people who live here.”

The Thanet Stroke Campaign has instructed law firm Irwin Mitchell to advise on the claim and is seeking an initial £5,000 via Crowd Justice. This will allow an investigation into the matter and to send the letter before claim.

“This will force the CCG, and Kent County Council to listen to us and take our concerns seriously. We hope to raise more funds than this, and will explore all funding options, including legal aid, in order to take the case to court if we have to do so,” Constantine said.

“In the meantime we are waiting for the Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group, CCG, to either revise the HASU plan so that Thanet residents do not have their lives put in danger or we need the HOSC to refer it back to the Secretary of State for Health.”

Constantine said the decision to site a HASU so far away was “extremely concerning”, pointing out that Thanet has the poorest health outcomes in Kent.

In February the Leader of Medway Council threatened to bring a judicial review of a decision by clinical commissioning groups to locate three hyper acute stroke outside its area.

On 14 February the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups for the Kent and Medway Review of Urgent Stroke Services announced that the units would be located at William Harvey Hospital, Darent Valley Hospital and Maidstone Hospital.