Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards – getting the referral right

June 13, 2018

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards is the procedure prescribed in law when it is necessary to deprive of their liberty a resident or patient who lacks capacity to consent to their care and treatment in order them safe from harm.

Unfortunately some referrals are being delayed due to some common mistakes. This means Best Interest Assessors are then delayed in assessing patients, leading to unnecessary delays in care.

The list below shows three common mistakes that colleagues make when submitting their referrals:

• Sending DoLS referrals to incorrect local authority or not sending to the local authority at all (some are getting sent to the Dementia, Delirium, and Distress email address which is incorrect).
• Dates on the referrals are incorrect – DoLS can be authorised for 7 days which includes the day you are submitting i.e. if you are submitting on the 12th of the month it will be authorised until the 18th.
• You can extend this 7 days for a further 7 days which is at the bottom of the DoLS referral form.  You can complete this if you feel the patient will be in hospital for longer than 7 days or if the previous 7 days are running out and a best interest assessor hasn’t been yet.  Again this date is including the submission day so if you are sending on the 12th of the month it will be authorised until the 25th.

For more information, you can access the DoLS help document and the DoLs Q&A document

For further support and guidance in completing DoLS assessments, please contact the Adult Safeguarding Team:

• Sabina Price-Hickman – 07966625176
• Clare Cotterill – 07970244138