Second annual report on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards published today

27 March 2012

Some care homes and hospitals are still not meeting their obligations on liberty safeguards, according to our second annual report.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (the safeguards) aim to protect people’s human rights in circumstances where they cannot consent to their care or treatment.

Since 2009, we have been monitoring the use of the safeguards in hospitals and care homes as part of our broader inspection programme.

Key findings

• 8,982 applications to deprive a person of their liberty were processed, of which 50 per cent were authorised.
• Many services have developed good practice on the use of the safeguards, especially in involving people and their families in the decision-making process, but some were confused as to when restraints or restrictions on a person amounted to a deprivation of liberty.
• Between a third and a quarter of care homes had not provided their staff with training on the safeguards, and in some cases only the manager had received training.
• Most hospitals had held some training, but the proportion of staff involved ranged between 20-100 per cent.

Read more about the safeguards, our role and our future plans in Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards 2010/11.