How to report a concern

If you are concerned that a hospital or care home has or may have been depriving a person of their liberty without applying for DoLS authorisation, you should report your concerns. In the first instance, advise the hospital or care home of your concerns wherever possible, so they can review the arrangements considering your comments.

The hospital or care home can issue an urgent authorisation that lasts for 7 days and request a standard authorisation to be in place after this.

If you remain concerned that the hospital or care home is continuing to deprive someone of their liberty without seeking authorisation after a reasonable period, normally considered to be 24 hours, you should make a third-party request to:

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Team

City of Doncaster Council
Civic Office
Waterdale
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN1 3BU

Tel: 01302 736097
Email: dols@doncaster.gov.uk

Deciding whether to Raise a Safeguarding Concern

A deprivation of liberty should always be addressed with urgency through the appropriate authorisation process. 

However, there may be some occasions where an unauthorised deprivation of liberty means that a safeguarding concern needs to be raised.

The following are examples of when it may be appropriate to raise a safeguarding concern:

  • where a person is deprived of their liberty without appropriate authorisation, and this is not addressed in timely manner.
  • where a person is deprived of their liberty without appropriate authorisation, resulting in the person experiencing harm; this may include physical harm or emotional/psychological distress, or the loss of fundamental human rights
  • where a hospital or care home repeatedly or seriously fails in its responsibilities to seek appropriate authorisation to review the arrangements in place, or to end a deprivation of liberty after it is no longer required

For general information, advice and guidance about safeguarding adults call the Safeguarding Adults Hub on: 01302 737063 

 

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Last updated: 02 April 2024 07:06:44

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