R (C, M, P, HM) v Brent, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Mental Health NHS Trust
16.35R (C, M, P, HM) v Brent, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Mental Health NHS Trust [2002] EWHC 181 (Admin), (2003) 6 CCLR 335
Where disputed, the existence of a ‘home for life’ promise had to be clearly evidenced, especially in the context of a hospital, which is primarily a place for care and treatment
Facts: the claimants were long-term mental health patients, who opposed the closure of their long-stay hospital on the ground that, when they moved there (as the result of the closure of their previous long-stay hospital home) they had been promised a ‘home for life’.
Judgment: Newman J dismissed the application for judicial review, holding that hospitals were primarily places for care and treatment. A claimant who asserted that he had been promised a ‘home for life’ needed to prove it with proper evidence (first hand evidence, setting out clear who said what and in what context).