Provision of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Assessments

Medway Council is seeking a single provider for the provision of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) assessments. The purpose of this service is to organise, complete and return the assessments, required for DoLS under the Mental Capacity Act (2014. These assessments must be carried out by a Section 12 registered doctor and returned to the Council within a set timeframe.

By way of background, the Mental Capacity Act (2005) is amended by the 2007 amendments to the Mental Health Act (1983) to include the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), implemented on 1 April 2009. The safeguards provide legal protection for vulnerable people who are, or may become, deprived of their liberty in a hospital or care home. They apply to people who have a mental disorder and who are assessed as lacking capacity to consent to the arrangements made for their residence, care or treatment. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards require hospitals and care homes (Managing Authorities) to apply to the Supervisory Body (in this case, Medway Council) for an authorisation to deprive the relevant person of their liberty. Before an authorisation is issued, the Supervisory Body must ensure that six assessments are completed. The assessments are undertaken by a Best Interests Assessor for DoLS (BIA) and a Section 12 mental health approved DoLS trained doctor as follows:
The six assessments, and the person responsible for completing each assessment, are as follows:
1. Age (The relevant person must be over the age of 18 years) - BIA
2. Mental Capacity - BIA
3. No Refusals - BIA
4. Mental Health – Section 12 doctor
5. Eligibility - Section 12 doctor, or BIA who is Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) qualified
6. Best Interests - BIA
The Mental Capacity (Deprivation of Liberty: Standard Authorisations, Assessments and Ordinary Residence) Regulations 2008 require that the person undertaking the Mental Health assessment must be:
a. approved under section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983, or
b. a registered medical practitioner who the Supervisory Body is satisfied has three years post registration experience in the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorder.
The supervisory body must also be satisfied that the person has successfully completed the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Mental Health Assessors training programme made available by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Except in the 12 month period beginning with the date that the doctor has successfully completed the standard training, the regulations for England also require the Supervisory Body to be satisfied that the doctor has, in the 12 months prior to selection, completed further training relevant to their role as a mental health assessor.

Full details of the requirement are available in the tender documents available to download from the Kent Business Portal.