I'm trying to decide how I feel about the connections between this issue and this other thread initiated by Dreadful Scathe:
sent to gaol
I work for the NHS in a secure unit for people detained under the Mental Health Act as a result of their mental disorder and risk to others. Often they have been referred from the prison service. I also used to work for the prison service.
I thought, having considered the above – Do my patients have the right to complain about the conditions in which they live? After all, they have no choice but to be there. . . . . Of course they do!
Then I thought – Do NHS patients in general medicine have a right to complain about their treatment in hospital? After all, it could be argued that they have a choice to seek treatment elsewhere. . . . . Of course they do! Many don’t have this choice, and to seek private treatment (often not the better option I will add) is not viable for most – it might even take a criminal act to enable this choice (i.e. fraud), and remember, it is being argued that criminals don’t have the right to complain.
