Abuse and neglect

DoLS are an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They protect people who can’t make decisions for themselves and stay in care homes or hospitals. The safeguards ensure their loss of liberty is legal and that no one is deprived of their liberty without a good reason.

DoLS apply to:

• People over 18
• People whose freedom is being restricted
• People who lack the mental capacity to make decisions about their treatment or care
• People who have an impairment of or a disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain

Sometimes care homes and hospitals have to have some restrictions in place, for a person’s safety. If these restrictions amount to a deprivation of liberty, then they must get permission to do so. It is against the law for care homes and hospitals to deprive a person of their liberty without getting authorisation.

If the deprivation of liberty is agreed, the person it affects:

• must have a representative appointed to support them
• has the right to challenge the authorisation in the Court of Protection
• can request that the authorisation be reviewed to check whether criteria to deprive them of their liberty are still met.

1. The care home or hospital must recognise where a deprivation of liberty is occurring
2. The care home or hospital reach out to local authority and fill out the form to receive approval to deprive the person of their liberty. They can do this up to 28 days before they plan to deprive the person of their liberty
3. The local authority will then make arrangements to conduct a Best Interest assessment as part of the DoLS process
4. Authorisation is then considered.