With effect from 1 April 2009, schedule 1A of the Mental Health Capacity Act 2005 provides a new set of procedures for the authorisation of deprivation of liberty. These safeguards exist to provide suitable protection to all persons who have a mental disorder and lack capacity to consent to their care and treatment in circumstances where deprivation of liberty appears to be unavoidable, in the person’s best interests.
The procedures only apply to deprivation in the setting of a hospital or a care home, including acute hospital settings, whether publicly or privately arranged. Concerns about deprivation for liberty in other people’s homes or other settings should be raised under the safeguarding vulnerable adults procedures.
