Individuals who may be deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) would not be informed of their rights until the deprivation has been authorised, under government changes to the bill to replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) with the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS).
The amendment to the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, which passed narrowly last week by a committee of MPs scrutinising the bill, would see the cared for person, and any appropriate person or independent mental capacity advocate (IMCA) supporting them, given key information regarding the process and the person’s rights as soon as practicable after an authorisation were given.
More on the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill:
- Government issues deprivation of liberty definition in bid to provide clarity to practitioners
- Labour bid to scrap DoLS replacement bill fails as legislation passes first Commons stage
This includes the responsible body – the agency which authorises the deprivation of liberty, ensuring the cared-for person, and any IMCA or appropriate person -understand the effect of the authorisation, the circumstances under which an advocate would be appointed and their rights to request a review and to challenge any authorisation in court.
Source: Key change made to rights to information under LPS : Community Care
61chrissterry 