With dementia cases on the rise in Scotland, it is more important than ever to ensure that patients whose condition is severe enough to require detention under the Mental Health Act are treated fairly.
In the case of these two patients at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, that has not happened.
It is possible that the failure to realise their detention certificates had lapsed boils down to an admin error, but it is a serious one.
Read more: Scottish Government slammed over support given to dementia patients
The bottom line is that these two patients were in a position where they should have been free to leave the psychiatric if they or their families wanted, but they were never given that choice.
Even if they had told medical staff that they wished to be discharged, those staff were under the mistaken impression that they remained subject to the Mental Health Act and were therefore not free to go.
In short, they were potentially "deprived of liberty" against their will, and when it was no longer appropriate.
Read more: Dementia is now leading killer of women in Scotland
Inspectors have also flagged issues around these patients' medication because, again, paperwork was lacking.
In one case, a patient was being given treatment not covered by their T3 certificate. A T3 certificate is used to authorise medical treatment for patients who do not have the capacity to consent.
In the case of a 'T3' detention, the treating doctor is required to contact the Mental Welfare Commission after two months of compulsory treatment has elapsed. An independent doctor will then either authorise continued treatment or a change in treatment.
Read more: Study to investigate links between Alzheimer's and gut health
Without this it is impossible to say whether the patient's treatment was suitable or unsuitable - we can only be sure that it had not been properly authorised.
It is also worrying that a dementia patient whose treatment had been authorised under a T2 certificate - used for patients who do have the capacity to consent - was simultaneously receiving physical treatment under the Incapacity Act.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here