What are the deprivation of liberty safeguards?
The deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS) come as a result of amendments made to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, by the Mental Health Act 2007.
They introduce a new range of safeguards to protect vulnerable people 18 years old or over, who have a mental disorder and lack capacity to make care and treatment decisions for themselves, whose care or treatment in a hospital or registered care home amounts to (or will amount to) a deprivation of liberty (DOL) under article 5 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
The DOLS do not apply to people detained in hospital under the amended Mental Health Act 1983. However, they do apply to people received into Guardianship under the Mental Health Act, or people subject to a community treatment order, as neither of these orders authorise a deprivation of liberty.
What do they mean in practice?
The main purpose of the DOLS is to prevent arbitrary DOL, but also to provide an authorisation framework for situations when it is necessary to deprive someone of their liberty, in order to care for them or treat them in a way that protects them from harm.
Under DOLS, a hospital or registered care home becomes a “managing authority”, with the local authority or primary care trust becoming a 'supervisory body'. Each have their own set of duties and responsibilities, although some of these are shared.
Managing Authorities will have a duty to identify existing or potential DOL and make a referral to the relevant supervisory body. On receipt of an appropriate DOLS referral, the supervisory body will have to commission six different assessments as part of the process of determining whether or not to grant authorisation (see assessments link below).
If the care or treatment is likely to continue beyond the duration of the authorisation, application for further authorisation must be made prior to the expiry of the existing authorisation.
If authorisation is refused, the hospital or care home will need to provide the care or treatment in a less restrictive way, which does not amount to a deprivation of liberty.
The deprivation of liberty safeguards will be monitored by the new care quality commission, which is an amalgamation of the commission for social care inspection, the healthcare commission and the Mental Health Act commission.
The court of protection will be the final decision maker in situations where there is dispute, or when an appeal has been made.
Useful documents and resources and be found in the 'other websites' and 'read more' box on this page.