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Guardianship in Oxfordshire: hits and misses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Catherine Gordon*
Affiliation:
Warneford Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 7JX
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Abstract

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This is a follow-up of 24 cases of guardianship orders, and demonstrates how they can be used in practice for complex cases and highlights practical problems with the process of guardianship. Results showed that orders were generally applied to elderly females with dementing illness living alone. Many orders resulted in a move to residential care where the orders were often left to lapse within six months. Occasionally orders needed continuous renewal and here the process was often haphazard and disorganised. However, guardianship was used to coordinate and facilitate multi-disciplinary care. Difficulties have since been identified and improvements in organisation are discussed.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Benbow, S. M. & Germany, E. (1992) The use of guardianship orders. Psychiatric Bulletin, 16, 292293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health (1995) Guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983 (Government Statistical Service). London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Gunn, M. J. (1986) Mental Health Act guardianship; where now? Journal of Welfare Social Law, 144152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oxfordshire County Council Social Services & Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust (1996) Guidelines for the Use of Guardianship for Adults under the Mental Health Act 1983. Oxford: Oxfordshire County Council Social Services and Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust.Google Scholar
Wattis, J., Grant, W., Trayner, J., et al (1990) Use of guardianship under the 1983 Mental Health Act. Medicine, Science and the Law, 30, 313316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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