The House of Lords was this week pondering whether or not the Human Rights Act 1998 should be applied in the case of an 83-year-old Alzheimer’s patient threatened with eviction from her private care home.
The patient, YL, was placed in the care home in January 2006 by her local authority. The care home wants YL out following a row between YL’s family and the care home management. The Law Lords are considering whether the Act should apply to residents in the homes of private sector care providers where they have been placed in them, and funded by, local authorities under their statutory duties.
The home’s owners, Southern Cross Health Care Ltd, are arguing that they are not undertaking a public function.
Irwin Mitchell lawyer, Yogi Amin, who is acting for YL, says care homes are undertaking a public function in providing accommodation and caring for some of the most vulnerable people in society, and they need to accept the responsibility that goes with it.
“It is difficult to understand why care home owners are concerned about accepting that their
