Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) – Monthly Summary Statistics Quarter 3 2014/15 (Oct- Dec)
Number of DoLS applications received by Local Authorities over the period October- December 2014 (Quarter 3)
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Summary
Since 2009, care homes and hospitals have had to seek authorisation from their Local Authority if they need to deprive an individual who lacks capacity of their liberty as part of their care and/or treatment. The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) currently collects data from Councils with Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs or councils) on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) at a case level on an annual basis. This information is then published in the annual report ‘Mental Capacity Act, 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards’.
Supreme Court judgments handed down on 19 March 2014 led to a substantial increase in the number of Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) applications received by councils. As a result of this situation, the Department of Health (DH) introduced a temporary, voluntary data collection which was approved by the DH/ADASS Outcomes and Information Development Board (OIDB) and the HSCIC Programme and Service Delivery Board. This quarterly collection enables stakeholders to monitor the scale of the Supreme Court judgements’ impact on councils in a timely manner, and allows for any increase in the number of DoL applications to be quantified and evidenced.
In order to minimise the burden on councils only three data items are collected by each council on a quarterly basis including a monthly breakdown, at an aggregate level. The fields collected are the number of DoL application requests made, and of these, the number of requests granted and not granted.
Data is collected on a quarterly basis, covering the period April 2014 – September 2015. This release relates to quarter 3 of the collection, which covers 1 October – 31 December 2014, and also includes updated figures for quarter 1(1 April to 30 June 2014) and quarter 2(1 July to 30 September 2014). The data shows the position on 16 January 2015, when the returns were submitted, but which may need to be updated by councils as further applications are completed. A comparison to the 2013-14 ‘Mental Capacity Act, 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards’ annual report is also included.
Further details are included in the Resources section below.
Key Facts
Quarter 3 2014-15
• 126 out of 152 councils (83 percent of all councils) submitted data for quarter 3.
• The total number of DoL applications in quarter 3 2014-15 was 33,600. Of these 9,000 (27 per cent) were granted, 2,700 (8 per cent) not granted and 21,900 (65 per cent) not yet signed off by the Supervisory Body or were withdrawn.(1.)
• During quarter 3 there were 12,200 DoL applications in October, 11,400 applications in November and 9,900 applications in December from 126 submitting councils.
• During quarter 3 there was an average of 79 applications per 100,000 people. The average number of applications per 100,000 population in October was 35, in November 32 and in December 28.
- In Point 2 the total number of DoL applications in quarter 3 2014-15 does not equate to the total number of DoL applications granted and not granted as some applications, as of 16 January 2015, were not yet signed off by the Supervisory Body or were withdrawn.
Numbers are rounded to the nearest 100.
Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.