Simon Garner, Lead Health and Care Commissioner, introduced the report of the Director of Care and Health setting out the important context of the work of the Deprivations of Liberty (DoLS) safeguards, the issues and challenges faced during Covid-19 and providing further information on the forthcoming changes to the legislation relating to Deprivations of Liberty.

The report set out that under schedule A1 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Council had powers to deprive a person in a care home or hospital of their liberty if certain statutory criteria were met such as the person being unable to consent to their treatment. The ethos of the Act was to assume the person could make their own decision and would be supported to make the relevant decision where required.

The Committee was advised of the challenges in continuing this work during the pandemic. Following the first lockdown in March 2020, all DoLS assessments were conducted remotely, other than those in exceptional circumstances where remote assessments were not able to be conducted, for reasons such as communication issues. It was reported that there had been issues whereby remote assessments had been deemed too distressing for the person being assessed.

A further update was provided on the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 which would introduce Liberty Protection Safeguards to replace DoLS resulting in significant changes to the those who the Council had responsibility for as well as the assessment process. The introduction of the legislation had been delayed until April 2022 but the Council was still engaged in planning for its introduction.

The Committee discussed the end-of-life arrangements under DoLS and the requirement for more regular reviews under the incoming Liberty Protection Safeguards.

RESOLVED – That

the report and the ongoing work to support vulnerable people within the borough be noted.