Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) training

Gillian Hargreaves Patricia Stoll Stuart Sorensen Trainers' contact page

Understanding Recovery Mental Capacity Act Managing Deliberate Self Harm Service-users Earned Depression Anxiety management Anger management Psychosis Borderline Personality Disorder Therapeutic risk-taking Stress & Vulnerability Restraint for routine tasks Understanding the duty of care and the right to liberty in residential care settings part 1 Understanding the duty of care and the right to liberty in residential care settings part 2 Understanding the duty of care and the right to liberty in residential care settings part 3 Understanding the duty of care and the right to liberty in residential care settings part 4 Competent care or 'too posh to wash'?

List of training courses The secrets of non verbal communication Mental Capacity Act 2005 training Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) training Risk appreciation in health and social care Responding to violence and aggression Responding to challenging behaviour Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA/SOVA) Adult Support in Scotland (a new legal framework) Introduction to Person Centred Planning Maintaining professional boundaries Getting people to talk Goal setting and problem-solving Working with withdrawn people Residential care training offer

Introduction to mental health and disorder Personality Disorder Relapse prevention in mental disorder Deliberate Self Harm Introduction to substance misuse in social care Working with withdrawn service-users Introduction to psychosis (including schizophrenia) Understanding anxiety Understanding obsessions, compulsions and phobias Understanding depression The experience and assessment of voice-hearing Working with delusions

Effective communication for managers Effective time management Helping staff to understand the duty of care

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) training

The new Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (Bournewood Safeguards) came into effect on April 1st 2009. Named after the Bournewood case (HL vs UK) they have a major impact upon hospitals and care homes throughout England & Wales.

These safeguards cover much more than simply the choice to leave the building.

The DoL safeguards cover all residential and hospital care settings and they provide a legal way to deprive a service user/client/patient of their liberty in their best interests so long as it genuinely is necessary.

Failure to follow the correct procedure when depriving a person of their liberty will be a criminal offence.

Examples of deprivation of liberty might include:

Deciding what someone will eat or wear;
Preventing people from going outside;
‘Over the top' observation;
Care and treatment decisions;
End of life planning (new hot topic);
Restrictions on visitors/associations.

There is now a strict protocol governing the deprivation of liberty and it will only be lawful if a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessor has granted authorisation based upon:

1. Age: the person must be 18 or over;
2. Mental health: the person must have a mental disorder (which might include a learning disability if associated with ‘seriously irresponsible' or aggressive behaviour);
3. Mental capacity: the person must lack capacity for that decision;
4. Best interests: deprivation of liberty must be in the person's best interests;
5. Eligibility: the person is not ineligible to have his/her liberty deprived;
6. No refusals: there is no ‘valid and applicable' refusal such as an advance decision or a refusal under Lasting Power of Attorney.

All 6 conditions must be met before depriving a person of their liberty.

The Deprivation of Liberty Authorisation will normally come from the supervisory body (Primary Care Trusts for hospitals and Local Authorities for care homes). However, in emergency cases it will be possible for hospital or care home managers to grant the authorisation for a limited period of time. In this event they must obtain a proper authorisation as soon as possible afterwards.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards are part of the Mental Health Act 2007 but they amend the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice. This means that it will be lawful to deprive a person of liberty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 without using the Mental Health Act 2007 but only if proper authorisation has been granted.

People in ‘the Bournewood gap' (not eligible for detention under the Mental Health Act but not able to make their own decisions either) are covered by the safeguards.

All residential and hospital care providers will need to understand the safeguards or risk criminal charges.

For more information or to book training please contact AMJ on 07872 102626 or email Stuart on stuartsoresnen@msn.com

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