DH exhibition stand Q&A: Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Thursday 12 October, 3.10 – 3.40 Exhibition Hall
Up to an estimated 200,000 people in England lack the capacity to make decisions about their personal care or healthcare and may require Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to protect their interests.
In 2014, The Supreme Court widened the definition for when people are deprived of their liberty. The Department of Health asked the Law Commission to review the DoLS legislation, and they published their report earlier this year. Rob Peaty and Flora Henderson from the DoLS policy team are jointly exploring its implications, improvements to the system for depriving people of their liberty and engaging with stakeholders to seek their views and experiences. Here they explain why your insights as NCAS delegates are so important…
The Supreme Court widened the definition of a deprivation of liberty in their judgement on the ‘Cheshire West’ case in 2014, following which there has been a more than tenfold increase in the number of DoLS applications.
We know that this has had a significant impact on local authorities who continue to innovate and work hard in this area.
In 2014, we asked the Law Commission to review the legislation relating to DoLS. The Law Commission published their report in March this year, and we are in the process of considering what this might mean for depriving people of liberty in future and the organisations affected.
We are keen to see improvements on quality of care, access to the safeguards and a more cost-effective system.
We are keen to hear from you and to understand your experience and views.
Join us on the DH stand to share your knowledge and learn more about what we do. We look forward to meeting you.
Can’t make it to NCAS?
Alternatively, if you are unable to catch us on the day, you can direct questions to us at this mailbox dols@dh.gsi.gov.uk and we will be very happy to respond.