A person who can’t make a decision about
something is said to lack capacity to make that decision.
This leaflet is for you and your family or carers if you lack capacity to agree to stay where you are. It tells you about the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and how this affects you.
What is a deprivation of liberty?
In hospital, staff should make sure that all care a person receives involves as little restriction as possible. However, sometimes it will be necessary to take away some of the persons freedoms to provide the care they need.
A deprivation of liberty happens when a person is:
- under continuous supervision and control, and
- is not free to leave, and
- cannot consent to these arrangements.
The kind of care that people receive in hospitals and care homes usually involve supervision and control. Staff will monitor patients and will control such things as mealtimes, bedtimes and visiting times.
This care may be what the person needs but it can deprive people of their freedom if they cannot consent to it.
What are the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards? (DoLS)
These safeguards are part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
The safeguards apply to people over the age of 18, who lack the capacity to make decisions about where they stay for care or treatment.
A deprivation of someone’s liberty should only happen where necessary and must be in the best interests of that person.
If a person needs to be deprived of their liberty for care or treatment to be provided, then the safeguards make sure that this is arranged in the least restrictive way available and for no longer than needed. The safeguards also provide legal protection.
Urgent authorisation
When a DoLS application is made, the hospital can grant itself an urgent authorisation.
The urgent authorisation will allow a deprivation to take place while waiting for the council (local authority) to carry out the DoLS assessment.
What happens next?
A doctor will visit to see if you are able to make the decision for yourself or if you lack the capacity to do so.
If you are assessed to have capacity, then you cannot be deprived of your liberty and the urgent authorisation will end.
If you are assessed to lack capacity, another assessor will visit. They will seek your views and the views of your family members or carers.
The assessor will find out if it is in your best interests to stay in hospital or whether you could be cared for in a less restrictive way.
Standard authorisation
If the assessor agrees that a deprivation is happening a standard authorisation will be given by the council. This will say the reasons why the deprivation has been authorised and how long it will last.
Sometimes an authorisation is given with certain conditions about your care that the staff looking after you will have to follow.
Your rights under DoLS
You have the right to:
- be told how long the authorisation will last and how it will affect you.
- have a representative to explain your rights to you and help with any appeal or complaint.
- ask the council authorisation to look at the authorisation again. This could be because you think they got something wrong, or something has changed since the assessment was done.
- ask the council about any conditions on the authorisation that have to be followed.
- ask the Court of Protection for help if you still disagree with the decision to be deprived of your liberty.
- have an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMHA) if you or your representative need help to appeal or complain.
Further information
Age UK DoLS factsheet: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-ni/documents/factsheets/fs62_deprivation_of_ liberty_safeguards_fcs.pdf
Court of protection website: https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/court-of-protection