The number of applications to deprive people of their liberty, when there is no other way to care for them or safely provide treatment, varies by region in England, new figures from The NHS Information Centre show today.

According to Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessments (England) Second report on annual data, 2010/11, the East Midlands recorded the highest number of applications to deprive someone of their liberty, while the North East recorded the lowest number.

Today's report presents the first two full years of comparable data about the use of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, which gives a legal framework around depriving someone of their liberty when there is no other way to care for them or safely provide treatment, where they are unable to give informed consent regarding their care. Applications are generally made by a care home or hospital to the responsible local authority or primary care trust (PCT).

It shows that both the number of applications and rate of applications by total population vary significantly by region. The highest figures were recorded in the East Midlands, where there were 1,644 applications in total, equating to 46 applications per 100,000 of the population. This compares to the England rate of 22 per 100,000 of the population.

The lowest number of applications was recorded in the North East (579 in total; or 28 per 100,000 of the population) while the lowest rate was recorded in the East of England, where there were 13 applications per 100,000 of the population (591 in total).

Key findings for 2010/11 include:

• In total 8,982 applications were made (compared to 7,157 in 2009/10).
• Of these, 4,951 applications were approved (compared to 3,297 in 2009/10) a 46 per cent approval rate.
• New, more detailed analysis for this year's report shows that of those applications that were granted, more than half (55 per cent) concerned a person who lacked mental capacity due to dementia.

The number of applications made in 2010/11 was lower than anticipated for the year, based on a Department of Health Impact Assessment carried out in 2008. The 2010/11 granted rate for applications was higher than anticipated in the same Impact Assessment.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “This report will be of significant interest to people, as it contains information about the first full two years of this relatively new legislation to deprive people of their liberty.

“The statistics show there is clear regional variation in the number of applications made to local authorities and primary care trusts and I am sure health professionals will use this information to explore possible reasons for this.”

The full report is at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/mentalcapacity1011annual

1 Department of Health's expected figures are in the Impact Assessment of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 deprivation of liberty safeguards to accompany the Code of Practice and regulations, which can be downloaded from: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/DH_084982

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
2. The Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (MCA DoLS), which came into force on 1 April 2009, provides a legal framework to prevent the unlawful deprivation of a person's liberty occurring and were introduced into the Mental Capacity Act 2005 through the use of the Mental Health Act 2007. The arrangements protect people who are vulnerable to abuse and poor care whilst residing in a hospital or care home (across statutory, independent and voluntary sectors) through the use of a standardised assessment and authorisation process. They protect those who lack capacity to consent to arrangements made for their care and/or treatment but who need to be deprived of their liberty for their own best interests to protect them from harm. They also offer the person concerned the right to challenge any decision to deprive them of liberty, a representative to act for them and protect their interests and the right to have their status reviewed and monitored on a regular basis.
3. A standard authorisation for a person to be deprived of their liberty requires an application within the legislation. The process applies to people aged 18 and above who suffer from a mental disorder of the mind (such as dementia or a profound learning disability) and who lack capacity to give consent to the arrangements made for their care and / or treatment. The safeguards cover people in hospitals and care homes registered under the Care Standards Act 2000. An assessment is initiated by a managing authority, which is either a care home or a hospital. Managing authorities submit a request for an authorisation to a supervisory body, who are local authorities and a primary care trust (PCTs).
4. Standard authorisation assessments where no urgent authorisation is already in place must be completed (processed) within 21 days. And where an urgent authorisations already exists must be completed within seven days or, in exceptional circumstances, within 14 days if an extension is granted by the supervisory body. The outcome of a completed assessment is that it is either granted or not granted. If it is granted, the person is subject to an authorisation and is deprived of their liberty. A single authorisation may be granted for any length of time up to a year. A person can have multiple authorisations requested which, due to changing circumstances, may result in different outcomes.
5. An authorisation may not be granted for a number of different reasons. It could be that since the initial request for an authorisation was made the circumstances surrounding the person have changed.
6. For further information about DOLS go to http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Deliveringadultsocialcare/MentalCapacity/MentalCapacityActDeprivationofLibertySafeguards/index.htm
7. The data is collected by Primary Care Trusts (PCT) and Local Authorities (LA's) and reported at England, Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Government Office Region (GOR) levels to preserve persons confidentiality.
8. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk