Deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS) (easy read)

Hospital staff must follow the law if they need to stop people making a choice.

A law called the Mental Capacity Act gives you this right.

Hospital staff will always try to help you to understand your choices.

They may not understand why they need care and treatment. They may want to make a choice that’s not safe and will harm them.

Hospital staff sometimes need to stop people making choices that are not safe.

There are three very important rules about deprivation of liberty.

You must have a disability or condition that affects your thinking. It must be proved that you are not able to understand the choice.

Hospital staff will make a choice about your care for you. They will talk about this with important people like your family.

The care you have must give you as much freedom as possible.

Gareth keeps saying he wants to go home.

Gareth is confused. He doesn’t understand how ill he is and why he needs to stay in hospital.

Hospital staff have tried lots of different ways to explain to Gareth why he needs to stay in hospital.

Gareth would not be safe if he went home. He needs a lot of care and treatment that he can’t have at home.

The doctor talks to Gareth’s family and other people who support him.

The doctor has a ‘Best interest’ meeting with Gareth’s family and other people who support him.

At the meeting they talk about the risks of Gareth going home and the risks of Gareth staying in hospital.

Everyone agrees that Gareth is not well enough to go home even though he says he wants to.

The hospital porter found him and helped him back to the ward.

Gareth is not free to leave the hospital and needs to be stopped if he tries to go home.

Hospital staff and his family talked about the best way to help Gareth stay safe if he tries to leave hospital.

They agreed that a member of staff or family will stay with Gareth all the time. They would support Gareth and help him to stay relaxed.

Physically holding a person is one way of restraining them.

Using medication to stop a person doing things is another way of restraining them.

Using equipment like a bed with a safety rail is another way of restraining people.

There are important rules that staff must follow when using restraint. These are explained on page 8.

Staff will always check to see if there are better ways of helping the person.

If restraint is used it must be done in a safe way by trained staff who can do it properly.

A positive behaviour support plan must be written. The plan will say how the person will be helped.

Restraint should be used for the shortest time possible. Staff should write down when they use restraint.

Staff hold Andrew while he has blood taken. They have been trained to do this properly. They hold Andrew in a way that causes him as little distress as possible.

Two staff help Diane each time she needs to have a bath. They sometimes have to carefully hold her arm to stop her struggling. When she struggles there is a risk she might hurt herself or others.

Edwina is given medication to make her sleepy. She is only given the medication for a few days while she needs oxygen. The medication stops her trying to take the oxygen mask off.

Martha has a nurse with at all times to watch over her. If Martha tries to get up and walk on her own the nurse go over to her and say she will help. The nurse will support her to walk.

These rules make sure your rights are protected.

These rules are for people who are aged 18 or over who live in England or Wales.

This can be a member of your family. The council will find someone else to speak up for you if you do not have a family member who can help.

Two people will visit you in hospital. They do not work for the hospital and one person will be a doctor.

They will check you are being treated fairly.

They will check these things, that you really are not able to understand the choice. That stopping you making the choice is in your best interests. If there is a better way to care for you that gives you more freedom.