The department of health has produced a new booklet for families and carers that explains their rights and the safeguards in place when doctors are considering treatment or care that might deprive a patient of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA).
The MCA Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (MCA DOLS) provide protection for vulnerable people who are accommodated in hospitals or care homes in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of their liberty and who lack the capacity to consent to the care or treatment they need.
The department of health anticipates that the majority of people who will require the protection of the MCA DOLS are those with more severe learning disabilities, older people with any of the range of dementias or people with neurological conditions such as brain injuries.
The MCA DOLS booklet stresses that deprivation of liberty should be avoided whenever possible or should only be authorised in cases where it is in the relevant person’s best interests and the only way to keep them safe. It also should be for the shortest time possible and only for a particular treatment plan or course of action.
It explains the rights of carers or relatives to have a say in treatment under the act and what safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable people being treated while detained.
The MCA DOLS were introduced following the legal judgment given by the European Court of Human Rights about an autistic man with a learning disability, who lacked the capacity to decide whether he should be admitted to hospital for treatment.
He was admitted to hospital on an informal basis, but was then prevented from leaving the hospital with his carers who then challenged the hospital and took the case to court, who found that he had been deprived of his liberty unlawfully, breaching the European Convention on Human Rights.
To prevent further breaches of the Convention, and to provide legal protection for vulnerable people who may need to be deprived of their liberty in their best interests in a hospital or care home, the MCA DOLS were introduced. They put in place rules about when deprivation is in a person's best interests, and what rights they have if their liberty is taken away.
The booklet explains the procedure for deciding when a patient's liberty should be deprived and how the treatment or care will be overseen and managed by the relevant supervisory authority.