Figures show impact of new laws to protect people who may need to be deprived of their liberty

Hospitals and care homes are making use of new measures designed to protect people unable to consent to their care or treatment, says a report out today.

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were introduced by law on 1 April 2009 to provide a legal framework for depriving someone of their liberty where they are unable to give informed consent regarding their care. Quarterly analysis of Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessments (England) Quarters 1 to 3 2009/10 provides the first official information about use of the new arrangements.

It includes information about the number and types of authorisations to legally detain a person in a hospital or care home under the new system as well as information about the characteristics of the people on whose behalf authorisation requests were made.

The report includes regional breakdown of the figures. Among its findings, it shows:

  • The number of completed assessments under the new arrangements (ie requests to deprive someone of their liberty) was: - 1772 in quarter 1, - 1,681 in quarter 2, and - 1,869 in quarter 3.
  • For each quarter, around three out of four completed assessments were by local authorities while the remaining ones were by primary care trusts.
  • The percentage of assessments resulting in authorisations being granted varied over the three quarters between 33.5 per cent in quarter 1 and 50.7 per cent in quarter 3.
  • Of the total completed assessments in each quarter, a higher proportion were for females than for males.

Under the new procedure, people lacking capacity which means they are unable to consent to arrangements made for their care or treatment in either hospitals or care homes can be deprived of their liberty if it is in their best interests and to protect them from harm.

At 31 December 2009, 1,074 people were subject to such authorisations.

The report is at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/mentalcapacity0910q1-3

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 (PCT's). 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. For further information about DOLS go to http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Deliveringadultsocialcare/MentalCapacity/MentalCapacityActDeprivationofLibertySafeguards/index.htm
  9. In the report, Quarter 1 is the period 1st April 2009 to 30th June 2009. Quarter 2 is the period 1st July 2009 to 30th September 2009. Quarter 3 is the period 1st October to 31st December 2009. The data is collected by Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Local Authorities (LA's) and reported at England, Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Government Office Region (GOR) levels to preserve persons confidentiality.
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