Agenda item

The Committee received a report on the implementation of the Deprivation of Liberty Standards (DoLS) introduced in England and Wales in April 2009 by the U.K. Government under the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The report outlined recent case law in the Supreme Court in March 2014 and the actions being taken by the Communities Department to mitigate the risks associated therewith including, staffing arrangements, training of both Social Workers and Section 12 Doctors as Best Interest Assessors (BIA’s) and increasing the number of staff able to authorise the Assessments within the required time frame.

It was noted that the Law Commission’s review of the DoLS system had described it as being “unsustainable and not fit for purpose”. Although the review, and its recommendations had been forwarded to the National Government it was not expected to be implemented for some time. Consequently, the current system, together with its challenges and risks, would remain in place until any changes to the legislation were introduced.

The following questions/issues were raised on the report:-

·        Reference was made to the Older Peoples’ Commissioner for Wales’ recent critical publication entitled “A Place to call home: Impact and Analysis’ on the quality of care in care homes within Wales. A view was expressed on the importance of the Council providing sufficient staff and resources to meet its obligations to undertake the DoLS’s assessment process as efficiently and quickly as possible to ensure the protection of vulnerable people in care

The Senior Safeguarding Manager, in response outlined the DoLS’s Assessment process which required 6 Assessments to be undertaken per application, 3 by Social Workers and 3 by approved Section 12 Doctors prior to their signing off. Each person subject to the assessment, or their representative/advocate were also requested to complete a feedback form on how they felt the care home was operating.

In order for the Authority to fulfil its requirements to undertake the assessments within the appropriate time frame, 22 social workers had received BIA training and seven members of staff trained as authorised signatories, in addition to the Head of Service and the Senior Safeguarding Manager. To support the assessment/authorisation process, the division had established a business support unit comprising two full time and one part time member of staff. Best Practice was also being examined across England and Wales on what makes a good DoLS’s team with a view to developing a best model for Carmarthenshire and ensuring adequate resources were in place to support each step of the process.

As a result of the investment in training, Carmarthenshire had seen over 95% of DoLS’s application received since mid-September 2017 allocated and assessed within the 7 or 21 day timescale. The remaining 5% had not met the timescale due to circumstances beyond the Department’s control e.g. family members being unavailable for consultation.

The Department had also made in-roads into processing the assessment backlog which, since October 2017, was being addressed as a separate piece of work. That had reduced from 670 to 550, and plans were being implemented to further reduce that figure.

·        With regard to the training of BIA’s, that was undertaken in Wales via a three day course followed by two days shadowing of trained assessors. Whilst the situation in England was somewhat different in that training was provided via a University qualified accredited course consideration of amending the Welsh position, which was considered appropriate, to reflect England had been deferred pending the outcome of the aforementioned Law Commission Report.

·        In response to a question, the Senior Safeguarding Manager confirmed the cost of undertaking assessments was a statutory cost for local authorities. Those costs would increase if a challenge was made to a DoLS assessment through the legal system, with the full cost thereof having to be borne by the local authority. The possibility of legal challenges occurring and the associated costs had been identified within the Council’s Corporate Risk Register.

·        Reference was made to the current requirement for a person subject to a DoLS’ assessment to have an annual review. Clarification was sought on its necessity if a person’s circumstance had not changed over the preceding year.

The Senior Safeguarding Manager advised that it was hoped any new processes arising from the Law Commissions Report would be more scaled and proportionate to a person’s circumstances and should those not change then a full assessment every year may not be required.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.