A young girl with learning disabilities was flown into Dundee in a drug-induced trance in a move likened by health bosses to “rendition to Guantanamo Bay”, a leaked report has revealed.
The report seen by the BBC shows that the teenager’s journey which was undertaken for medical reasons took place in 2007 without her consent or that of her parents.
The decision to fly her under sedation to Scotland is also said to have been taken against the advice of her professional advocate.
The teenager had been living at a residential home in Plymouth, but had to be moved to an adult setting as she was about to turn 18.
She stayed in Scotland for one month before being moved to Winterbourne View private hospital, which closed down after the abuse of patients was exposed in 2011.
It is not yet known why she arrived in Dundee or where in Scotland she was taken.
Gabriel Scally, former head of public health in south-west England, subsequently demanded an investigation into the girl’s treatment, leading NHS South of England to commission a report.
It found that the decision to sedate and transport the girl without consent had been “unlawful”.
Hampshire NHS said it had “immediately established a plan to ensure situations like this do not happen again”.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr Scally said: “It sounded like this was a hardened criminal being moved by a very oppressive state – or extraordinary rendition to Guantanamo Bay or something like that.
“Now that may seem an extraordinary exaggeration but I am quite sure for the person involved it was highly difficult and traumatic.”
The girl has not been identified for legal reasons.
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside told The Courier the authority had no involvement in the case.
It is understood the girl was cared for in the private sector.
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