Bi-annual analysis of Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessments (England): April-September 2011

This is the first bi-annual analysis of Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Assessments in England, covering the period April to September 2011.

DoLS were introduced in April 2009 as an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (“The Act”). The Safeguards provide a framework for approving the deprivation of liberty for people who lack the capacity to consent to treatment or care in either a hospital or care home that, in their own best interests, can only be provided in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of liberty. The safeguards legislation provides for an assessment process that must be undertaken before deprivation of liberty may be authorised .

These statistics provide official information about authorisation requests under The Act to deprive adults of their liberty and the outcome of such assessments. The DoLS collection is a statutory collection. All 151 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and 152 Local Authorities (LAs) in England are required to submit a return even if they are only submitting a nil return to inform of no use of the safeguards.

These statistics provide official information about authorisation requests under The Act to deprive adults of their liberty and the outcome of such assessments. Data is presented by Region (former Government Office Region (GOR)) and Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and includes demographic information about people on whose behalf authorisation requests were made.

The NHS Information Centre has moved from quarterly to bi-annual publications, plus an annual publication, in line with the Department of Health's DoLS publication strategy for 2011/12. This will be further reduced to one annual publication from 2012/13.