FORENSIC psychiatrists treating some of Scotland's most disturbed men and women have warned they will have less time to spend with patients due to mounting levels of paperwork if proposed changes to the system goes ahead.
It comes as the Scottish Government moves towards allowing mental health patients in medium secure units to apply to be transferred to less restrictive settings.
Many doctors, in principle, support the proposal to give the right "to appeal against excessive security" to people being cared for in such clinics, many of whom have committed serious crimes.
However, they fear if it goes ahead in its current form the move could lead to a flood of appeals that will swamp them with paperwork and leave less time for clinical duties.
Dr John Crichton, chairman of the forensic faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said provision should be introduced that would reduce the number of appeals being made.
"Everyone is concerned about increased workload and a lot of time being spent on appeals which, at a fairly early stage, you could say 'This isn't a runner'," he said.
"The concern of colleagues is being overwhelmed by tribunals and the administrative burden they create. I think there are measures that would really help. One of these would be some sort of initial screening of cases."
Patients held at high-security State Hospital in Carstairs, in South Lanarkshire, were given the right to appeal against excessive security under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2003.
The public consultation to extend this right to patients in Scotland's three medium secure units - the Orchard Clinic in Edinburgh, the Rowanbank Clinic in Glasgow and the Rohallion Clinic, Perth - was launched by the Government earlier this month.
The move followed a successful legal challenge made by a patient, known as "RM" at a medium-secure unit, who took his case to the Supreme Court in London last year. He argued these patients should be given a similar right to challenge their security conditions as those in Carstairs.
Some 119 men and women with long-term psychiatric illnesses, many of whom have been convicted of serious crimes, are held in the three medium-secure units.
The right to appeal against excessive security is unique to Scotland.
Jackson Carlaw, Scottish Conservatives' health spokesman, said: "The priority has to be public safety. We cannot allow doctors to become sidetracked by these cases when their time is best spent doing their day-to-day work to help these people. These considerations have to be at the forefront of the Scottish Government's mind."
An academic study published in May found 18 patients at Carstairs who had been convicted of violent offences, including murder and culpable homicide, were among the first 100 between 2006 to 2008 to make appeals. It found 44% of the first 100 appeals were approved, 23% rejected and 23% withdrawn. The remaining 10% were cancelled or adjourned.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are very interested to hear a wide range of views on these complex issues before making any decisions."
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