The implications of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the removal and detention of persons in need of care and attention

The Human Rights Act 1998 (‘HRA 1998’) requires public authorities to act compatibly with the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’). The ECHR contains rights, inter alia, to liberty and to respect for private life. Those rights—and, therefore, the HRA 1998—may be breached by provisions in the National Assistance Act 1948 and the National Assistance (Amendment) Act 1951 that enable persons in need of care and attention to be removed compulsorily to hospital. However, legal proceedings brought against a public authority that invoked its statuatory powers of removal may themselves be defensible under the HRA. Public Health (2002) 116, 120–125