National review of the use of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) published
Key findings and recommendations from our joint review with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW).
DoLS were developed to ensure people’s human rights are protected and maintained, and that the care they receive is in their best interests and delivered in the least restrictive way.
The Safeguards apply to people over the age of 18 who can’t consent to treatment or care in a hospital or care home. They provide a legal framework for deprivations to prevent breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights.
2019-20 Key Findings
- There has continued to be a year on year increase in the number of applications received by supervisory bodies, with a 28% increase received by health boards in 2019-20.
- Of those applications refused by supervisory bodies, approximately half were refused because the mental capacity condition was not met.
- Since many applications for DoLS were from care homes or hospital wards for older adult, The majority of applications continued to be for older adults with more than 85% of applications for people over the age of 65, most of which were for people living in care homes or in patients on hospital wards for older adults.
- Up to the age of 64 there were more DoLS authorisations for men than women, but after the age of 85, a significantly higher number of authorisations were in relation to women.
Read the full report and all the key findings below.